Hiraeth
by TheBlackBand
Summary: Orochimaru had it all planned out: with his own hidden village as well as allies from the Grass and Sand, he will take Konoha and bring it to its knees. What he didn't account for, was the arrival of magical war veterans. Fem!MoD!Harry, Strong!Wizards
1. Chapter 1

_Why were you born when the ash was falling?_

 _You should've come to the Phoenix's calling_

 _\- A parody of "The Dirge" by Christina Rossetti_

* * *

 _ **Hogwarts Castle, 2 May, 1998**_

A scream... No...Maybe ten...Twelve… Maybe more?

There was a hum of spells and yelling of incantations all around…

Explosions came, and the toppling of marble against marble rang in the back of their heads as the mighty school collapsed behind them, while the crackling of fire whispered in their ears.

It was there, and then it wasn't.

When Harry Potter and the Dark Lord took tentative steps towards each other, the piercing cry of a phoenix took to the air.

Ϟ

 _ **Shinobi Countries, Date Unknown**_

Twenty years ago, a small village in the Land of Lightning had registered to become an official shinobi village.

The Five Great Shinobi Countries gave it one look and dismissed it as unimportant. After all, the village itself was about the size of the small trading towns scattered all over the country, nowhere near the size of any of the main five, and therefore, just a seemingly insignificant little detail, and the village sank back into anonymity.

The Five weren't prepared to eat their words.

Then, two years ago, just eight years after, a Chuunin Exam was held in Sunagakure. It was during that time that the Hidden Lightning Village had officially stepped into the Shinobi World. As newbies, the three teams, nine shinobi in total, were naturally given a hard time by other competitors, or were ignored completely. What chance did some wannabe village in the middle of nowhere have competing in the Chuunin Exams against the Five Elemental Nations?

But the dry, dry sun and the cold, dismissive hearts of the people did little to deter them. They persevered, and performed remarkably well in the first few stages of the event, excelling in several areas where their competitors failed, greatly surprising the onlookers.

When the final stage of the event came to be, everyone thought the Lightning Village's luck had run out, for surely they would never be able to defeat their far more experienced opponents in open combat?

The Hidden Villages didn't stand a chance.

It only took six young men of the nine that arrived to defeat the many dozens of shinobi they should have had no real right to beat.

Well, no one could blame them for underestimating them. They didn't know that they were dealing with the reincarnated combatants of the Battle of Hogwarts.

Ϟ

It...was sort of like being an Auror, she guessed, as the only equivalent she could draw up in her mind were the military and police force, and that was...sort of a nice way to put shinobi. She nodded to herself.

There were more parallels now that she thought about it. To train for both would be intensive and strenuous. Except, instead of magic, they used chakra, a phrase that she often heard in muggle yoga films or meditation techniques. This chakra was much more tangible, and much more useful; a magic in its own right.

Chakra has two components: spiritual and physical. The two energies were molded and then used for basic techniques or advanced ones with the right output. Instead of wands to conduct the energy, they used hand seals. And instead of only a specific number of people having chakra, everyone had it in this world, which came as quite a shock to them when they first found out.

If chakra was chakra, then what was magic?

What was it that made her move things without touching them, or teleport to places far away when she was too lazy to walk?

Simple, the only answer to that was...magic.

Magic was magic and it had followed them through time and universes to bring them here (No matter how much Hermione studied or theorized).

And, where was "here?"

Here was a place where she was still a child, but with the memories of an adult. The same went with all of her old classmates, friends, and family. Here was where almost all of her old classmates and teachers were reborn in a small village they had called their own, but had openly seeked her at a young age so she could never be alone anymore. Even if she did have a brother here.

Here, she was taught a thousand ways to kill a man and thousand ways to lie.

Here —

"Tch," a voice loudly complained, and she turned her head to the platinum blond male beside her. He consciously scuffled his leather boots against the unpaved dirt road and shoved his hands in his pockets. His face scrunched up as he sniffed the air and scowled deeply, "It stinks of rubbish."

"Oh really?" a girl with curly brunette hair asked sarcastically. "I would never have guessed with all of these smelly trash cans around." Almost in a proving way, she gestured to all of the cramped garbage bins lining the narrow alley walls emitting a rather foul odor.

He scowled deeper as he looked past the figure in the middle to glare at the brunette, "Oh yea? Well if you're so smart, why don't you point the shortest way to the hotel then, Miss Know-It-All."

She huffed and lifted her chin up, "If I remember correctly, it was YOU who suggested that we take this path. Obviously you know what you're doing." Translation: I'm as completely clueless as the where to go as you are.

"Guys, please-"

"The sooner we get out of here, the better," was his quick reply.

"Well then, how would you explain leaving a month early? The exams don't start for another three weeks at least. If you had waited a little longer, Ron's Dragon Pox would've passed, and we would be out of your way."

"Then it's my fault Weasel caught Dragon Pox?"

"Now when did I say that-?!"

"Guys!" The raven-haired female called again, only to fall to deaf ears. The two had a stare down.

"Oh, I get why you came with us now," the female stated confidently, "Trouble in paradise? I thought Parkinson was the perfect match for you."

The only male in the group scoffed in annoyance. He turned away with a scrunched up face. She had hit the bullseye.

"C'mon guys," the middle figure tried again, now that the arguing pair was silent. "I thought you would've stopped arguing by now, you're adults."

She took a good look at them.

Adults in twelve-year-old bodies.

"Hekima," a glance at the female. 'Hermione.'

"Ryuuta," she gave a look to the brooding male next. 'Malfoy.'

"I understand that we don't necessarily get along, but it's just for one exam." Translation: Apologize. Now. The two former students inhaled and turned to one another. They didn't actually say anything to each other, but Harry knew the look in their eyes that grudgingly conveyed a form of apology.

Harry sighed, "I swear, guys…" She reached up to rub her temples and closed her eyes. "But…" she looked up at them with a slight teasing smirk again, "I would do anything to get away from Parkinson too."

Hermione barked a laugh, while Draco gave a wry smile of his own, before it twisted in annoyance.

"Tch, out of all the people I had to be assigned with, it had to be her. That girl sticks to my side like a rash."

"A least Zabini makes it tolerable," Harry said, switching back to their old names. It was sort of an unspoken rule in their village full of reincarnations. You speak your old, European names around your old friends in private, but in public, especially around people from other villages, you speak with your new names; the more foreign, Japanese-influenced names.

Draco hummed thoughtfully. While they weren't exactly friends, they were civil as adults in their past life. Which was kind of strange to Harry when he all of a sudden switched back to being a huge prat.

Perhaps it the new body?

After all, they had no control of their current pubescent stage and raging emotions, hormones, and whatnot.

"It could be worse," Hermione added, "You could've been teamed up with Crabbe and Goyle."

"Ha! If that happened I can say goodbye to even reaching Gen-!"

What happened next was a blur.

All of a sudden, an orange figure sped by at the speed of a Quidditch bludger, and collided head-on with Draco, spewing paint and splattering colors all over his robes.

And knowing Draco, they were very _expensive_ robes.

Hermione gasped, but had pulled Harry away in time. The young women gaped at what the short tempered blond would do next.

Draco stood there, frozen in shock, dripping in the brightest of reds, oranges, purples and greens.

It was almost like the world itself took an inhale of breath and listened to the paint drip.

The two girls then focused their attention to the orange and yellow figure on the ground. He was knocked over on his rear, and was currently rubbing the soreness away from his head.

"Ow!" he moaned, running fingers through his messy blond hair. He looked down. "Aw! My paint!" he whined, looking at the mess splattered paint balloons all over the alleyway. Then, he felt people looking at him and blinked. He looked up to see three people standing over him, one of which was covered in paint and looked ready to pummel the tar out of him.

The girls wanted to help, they really did. But there were two things one absolutely shouldn't do around Draco Malfoy.

One of them was messing with his clothes.

"Heh heh..." he laughed nervously. "I'm really sorry about that!" He scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

Harry felt bad for the kid. If anything, it was Malfoy's fault. The bright blond was obviously running with a time and place in mind. Malfoy was the one who stepped out of the dark alleyway, where the sun was cut off. But, then again, Draco was the one covered in multicolored acrylics.

Malfoy stood over him with such a heavy aura that it made his stomach drop and the air hard to swallow. He made Naruto look so small. His platinum blond hair cast a shadow over his face, while a single eye peeked over his bangs and lit up like a red, demonic headlight.

"Ten for the shirt and trousers," Malfoy demanded, "Pay up. Now."

Ϟ

The girls failed miserably at the attempt to cover up their giggles when their eyes had met the sight of Malfoy staring blankly at the single coin in his hands.

Ϟ

"You!" Ryuuta yelled again, hosed down and in a fresh new outfit. Harry sighed deeply, but followed Malfoy to wherever he was storming. It turned out to be a small, but homey little noodle shack with the words "Ramen Ichiraku" printed proudly on the individual fabric flaps. He was quick to angrily shove aside the fabric and grab Naruto by the collar.

"Wuh?!" Naruto exclaimed, "You're the guy from earlier! What's the big idea?!"

"Dammit Naruto!" The pink-haired girl on the stool beside him roared, "What did you do now?!"

So Naruto was his name, Harry noted, putting it in the back of her mind for possible future use.

From the looks of it, the pinkette and the brooding duck-butt haired boy were his teammates. It didn't look to be a very friendly squad.

But, then again, team formations in other villages were pretty bizarre. Usually it was either by clan-formations, prepared by their fathers, and their father's father, and so on. Or it was by specialties. The rest of them were formed by grades, like top boy with top girl and dead-last.

Their village wasn't like that, and she scoffed at the thought of being teamed up with anyone that wasn't Ron or Hermione. The only reason why Malfoy was here now was because after the fiasco with the Suna Chuunin exams two years ago, their village had pulled back from international affairs with the other Shinobi countries. Of course, after such a performance, being left alone was never really an option.

Soon, after countless messengers, letters, and meddling, Kingsley Shacklebolt finally had enough of their intrusions and grudgingly agreed at the last minute to send in one team.

And here she was now.

Only problem was, Ron had come down with a case of Dragon Pox a little while before they had to set off, and it wouldn't do anyone good if he was tired, hurting, and heating up through the entire exam. If they had pulled out of the exam completely, it would be a horrendous insult to Konohagakure, especially after they made so many arrangements to have them included at all.

Then came the arrival of Draco Malfoy, who, however cowardly he was, there was no doubt that he scored high on their graduation exams.

"What. Is. This?!" Draco asked with badly restrained anger. He opened up his palm to reveal a warm coin with the number ten printed over it.

"Huh?!" Naruto loudly exclaimed, "Whaddya mean?! You told me to pay you back for your clothes!"

"Are you trying to make me look stupid?" Draco rather comically shook the boy, face twisting, and if it weren't for the fact that Malfoy was so angry, Harry would laugh at the face he was making. Naruto flailed helplessly like a rag doll, "You can't even buy a drink with this kind of money!"

Shouldn't his teammates be doing something? Harry looked over at the boy's two teammates who stared blankly at their companion getting interrogated.

"Ten-THOUSAND! When I said, ten, I meant 10k!"

"What?!" Naruto said indignantly, "Ten-thousand ryo?! Are you crazy?! No one has that kind of money to spend on clothes!"

She sighed. This was going too far. Obviously this guy didn't have the money. Really, no person in their right mind would carry around that kind of money either.

"That's enough, Ryuuta. He already said sorry for your clothes," she said. This was the first time she spoke since they've arrived at the ramen shack. The two others jumped, and stared at her with shock and suspicion. They hadn't sensed her, a fact that she was happy about. She took pride in how sneaky she was in a world where being sneaky was an art form.

Draco slowly turned his head to glare at her.

"You're causing a ruckus," she said firmly. A breeze blew over the silence.

"Hmph," he threw Naruto back, and brushed invisible dust off his clothes.

"Wait, teme! You can't just do that and walk away!" Naruto yelled, angry about what had transpired.

"What do you want me to do about it?" Malfoy asked, almost bored. Naruto glared up at Draco.

"I challenge you to a fight!"

Ϟ

"If Hekima finds out about this she's gonna skin us alive," Harry half-heartedly complained across the field. They — Team 7, Harry and Draco — were at Training Ground 7, and Naruto and Draco were staring each other down.

Draco's fighting style was smooth, quick, and clean. He liked to finish it off with the hardest hit and to not dance around with fancy, unnecessary flips and kicks.

Sasuke looked as uninterested as ever.

Sakura looked worriedly between her teammates, and the blond's teammate.

'Why,' Harry thought, 'am I letting Malfoy get away with this?'

There was a light pressure on her shoulder, like a ghost with bony fingers and hands. She turned her head slightly and grimaced. Her eyes met with a dark, shadowed cloak.

'That's right...There's something wrong with that boy.' She could feel it.

 _'Smack!_ '

She jolted out of her thoughts. Naruto had blindly charged at Malfoy while she was thinking and the wizard had simply stepped to the side and sharply struck the back of Naruto's neck, forcing him to the ground.

The kunoichi beside her gasped, but then slumped her shoulders in obvious relief when Naruto got back up on shaky arms.

 _'Smack!_ ' A kick to the ribs.

 _'Smack!_ ' A punch to the jaw.

Harry furrowed her eyes in intense confusion. No one would be able to take that many hits from Malfoy and stand back up every time. Whoever this Naruto person was, he was certainly resilient.

"Why. Won't. You. Just. Stay. Down?!" Malfoy roared, punctuating each word with a blow.

"Ha!" Naruto laughed. This tough guy was good, certainly, but now it was time to show what _he_ could do. He formed the necessary hand seals, saying, "It's going to take a lot more than that to take me down! Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Multiple doppelgangers popped into reality with a cloud of smoke. Draco's eyes widened, and then he moved in a blur. He dodged, glided, and slid over all of the clones, dispelling them all with hits in critical pressure points, causing the training ground to be flooded with smoke.

Harry couldn't help but grin. Back home, not even a Wizard of Dumbledore's caliber could compete with a Ninja, but when they had ended up here, they became a lot stronger. Their abilities as wizards remained the same, and they couldn't perform some of the more complicated techniques the Shinobi did, but their closest magical equivalent was usually just as good, or in quite a few cases better.

That, coupled with copious martial arts training, had made them highly formidable opponents to the Shinobi and Samurai that called the continent home, as Draco's current match with Naruto clearly proved.

He didn't come out unscathed though; his clothes were a ruined mess again, and his face was streaked with dirt and minor cuts.

Harry knew that they were at the breaking point of his temper.

"Why...you…!"

"Hey…!...Ryuuta!" Harry warned worriedly, keeping her eyes on the male.

Sasuke and Sakura stared at her in mild fear and concern.

Malfoy pointed with his middle and index together, while he folded back the others. Then, he started to move them in an all-too familiar movement too Harry.

"Ryuuta…!" Her voice took a dangerous edge.

"Rictum-!" Naruto was frozen in his spot, unaware of what that hair-raising feeling in the air was, and what was going to happen next.

" _RYUUTA!"_

What happened next was too fast for even Sasuke's Sharingan to comprehend.

It wasn't the Body Flicker Technique, where Ninja used leaves, logs, or basically anything to leave a substitute in their place while they quickly moved away, leaving their opponent confused and vulnerable. Nor was it the Yellow Flash's technique, where he slowly blurred away from existence.

No, it was quite literally — _Blink_ — Now you see me! — _Blink_ — Now you don't!

With the loud, ear-bleeding _'crack!_ ' the girl moved from one end of the field to the other nearly a thousand feet away in a less than a second. Team 7 openly gaped. Especially Naruto, who had two fingers pointing between his eyes, just centimeters away.

Harry kept a hard grip on Draco's wrist, pressing down firmly on his wrist with her forefinger. The Tickling Charm, on the surface, didn't sound very dangerous, but a powerful enough casting of the spell could cause the victim to collapse into painful laughter, leaving them short of breath and close to suffocation. It was even labeled as minor torture in some books back home.

But that's not what she was worried about. It was a minor spell, after all. She had used it on Draco once in their second year and plenty of times afterwards. What she was infuriated about was the fact that he was about to use magic, so soon, and on a new Genin of all things.

The two Wizards glared at each other, conversing silently with their eyes.

"Just _what_ do you think you were doing…?! You know you're not supposed to use that here!" she yelled furiously. Team 7 was frozen in shock at the quick change in the air. Huffing, she threw down his wrist after she let the message sink in. "We're leaving." She twirled around on the balls of her feet, letting her hair flutter after her like ribbons.

A few steps away, she felt a prickling in the back of her mind. Faster than a Golden Snitch, she spun around and caught a speeding kunai between her fingers, just inches away from her face. She looked up at the Konoha Nin, and to her surprise, it was the brooding one that threw it at her. She schooled her features into a calm one.

"What are you thinking walking over our village like that _, Lightning-nin_?" he said, with a spike of something in his voice, having realized that they were from the village that had dominated at the Suna Exams two years prior. He was shaking slightly too. With fear, excitement? She couldn't tell.

"I'm sorry for causing trouble then," she said, avoiding the question.

They were interrupted again, this time by the pink-haired girl, who spewed numerous political terms that only Hermione and Malfoy would bother to remember.

"We have passes for the Exams this year."

"And your name?" Sasuke asked, or rather demanded, though he faltered somewhat after hearing why they were here.

"The name's Akui Ryuuta."

Harry hummed, letting the silence sink in for suspense before she decided to answer.

"Hari. Nazo Hari."

* * *

1] The discussion on the currency:

If I did my math correctly then then 1 ryo = 10 yen = a little less than 10 US cents. I planned for Draco to have a simple $1000 outfit, (because, in my mind, he'd probably go that for for clothes.) So when Naruto thought he said 10 ryo, that equals to about a penny, that's why he's so upset over it.

No pairings as of yet, but considering my other story, it might be obvious to whom I'm leaning towards. Hermione and Ron are set in stone though.

* * *

Beta'ed by Recycler

Revised 5/31/16, updated 5/1/16


	2. Chapter 2

Woah, 100 follows for this story? Thank you! I'm so glad that you're putting up with the first chapter, even through the horrible rushed situation and the huge plot holes.

* * *

 _ **Notes:**_

-I wrote this on my phone originally, but then totally forgot to save about half of the chapter, and now I'm really angry.

\- There have been questions and statements concerning the story and please be patient. I will discuss some of the concerns in this chapter, but most of them are meant to be revealed in later chapters. It would be extremely boring if I explained everything from the get-go.

* * *

Sasuke stared with slight interest as Dead Last got beat up by another blond that was yelling something about clothes, money, and 10k.

Then, his interest climbed the slightest bit when the argument escalated to a full out fight. The new blond was a foreign nin; he saw the fabric of the headband tied to the male's left thigh, but the blond's back was facing him from the position he sat at in the ramen shack, so Sasuke couldn't tell what the village was. Even so, Sasuke could tell that the male was weak. He was thin and lithe (but not exactly scrawny) from what Sasuke could see through the tailored clothes. He had platinum blond hair and a pale, skinny face. There seemed to be no hint of the muscle build-up of a nin. If anything, Sasuke was certain that the foreign-nin was a just a spoiled brat that got his position as a genin from his family's power and money, judging from his clothes.

He had jolted a slightest bit when the foreign-nin's teammate spoke up and called him Ryuuta. They didn't seem to be on the friendly side, but there was the underlying hint of something in her eyes that revealed they had more history than just teammates.

Sasuke decided to watch her then; after all, not just anyone can sneak up on him like that. Let alone announce her presence only when she wanted to be noticed.

Imagine his surprise when the male foreign-nin struck Naruto with enough strength that would send most Chuunin to their knees. They were standing quite a ways away from the actual fight, but Sasuke swore that he could still hear the deafening ' _crack_!' that echoed throughout the training grounds. But Naruto was more stubborn than that, and got up every time with slight difficulty. The female seemed unfazed throughout a majority of the match, only expressing her slight worries about getting chewed out by their other teammate.

It was true, if anything, they should've gotten in trouble. It was a major rule to not pick fights with other nins unless the mission forces you to. Even though Naruto was the one who initiated the fight, the favors would technically go to Team 7 considering they were on Konoha soil. Sakura looked worriedly between the two throughout the entire scuffle, looking like she wanted nothing more than to stop the fight. But even Sakura knew not to do that, jumping in between two fighting shinobi was a big no-no — unless they were stronger and faster than said ninjas — doing so would just be asking to get hurt as well. The intense presence of the unknown female beside Sakura didn't help either. Sasuke, on the other hand, wanted to know what the outcome was. They've already showed interesting skills, and Sasuke wanted to measure his power against other people his age from other villages. Naruto, while Sasuke would never admit it, was pretty strong in his own right.

It was only when the blond's temper seemed to be wearing thinner and thinner with every shadow clone, and every step Naruto took, the female seemed to grow agitated. She barked out a warning — that the male didn't listen to — and he finally snapped. He did a formless hand sign, one that Sasuke had never seen before, and pointed it at Naruto. He yelled some incomprehensible word at the frozen Naruto, something that Sasuke would never bother pronouncing because he knew that it would twist at his tongue.

All of a sudden, there was a sound like someone took a large branch and snapped it right down the middle.

Without even the rush of wind or a fluctuation of chakra of any sort, the female disappeared from one end of the training grounds to the other.

It was then, Sasuke's breath was caught in his throat for the first time in forever.

It was like a sort of flash step, but Sasuke was able to catch the action of her landing on her feet, almost in slow motion compared to the action he missed earlier. Was it a super speed? How was it that she was able to miss an action that even most ninjas wouldn't understand, let alone allow the eye to see? Her raised, blown hair slowly fell back to her neck like ribbons.

Yet, that wasn't even the most surprising part.

The most surprising part was a ninja headband. She had folded and tucked the fabric part into the back of her pants, leaving the tough, but flexible metal to dangle helplessly as it raised and fell with the momentum. At that exact angle, the sun glinted off the reflective metal and Sasuke's black eyes caught the insignia of the " _N_ " shaped lightning bolt.

Ϟ

Technology and television were soon becoming a growing trend in the ninja world. Soon, the shinobi's workforce was becoming a subject of interest; allowing movies and books about their lifestyle to spawn at an alarming rate. Even so, there was nothing that could compare to the actual Chuunin Exams. It was like a real-life, modern time coliseum battle. There was violence, skill and gore, and it fit human nature perfectly. It was a way for people to say "Yes, this is my village, and yes, we really are this strong." It was a big publicity stunt and people loved it.

About two years ago, Sasuke had decided to turn on the large screen he had in his room, and decided, just for once, to sit down and watch. (He told himself it was for training purposes, of course.)

During the introductions he took notes and observations of the teams and ninjas. Who looked strong, who didn't, their names, their affiliation, what they looked like and what their skills were.

So far, it was pretty basic. Konoha, Suna, Kumo and Iwa, Kiri; the Five. Several other villages spotted the exams. Small ones like Grass, Hot Water, Rain. What he should've kept an eye on...was Lightning.

Lightning Village was, as expected, in Lightning Country. The very heart of it actually, while Kumo was a little bit more to the southeast. Why didn't Kumo feel threatened? Why did practically every village ignore this small, budding village of Lightning anyway? Weren't they ninja?

The fact was, ninja villages have been popping up a lot recently, and the most recent one Sasuke could think of was Sound. It mostly came down to economics. A majority of the money went to shinobi villages and trading villages, unless they had agricultural backing. The lack of those three was just asking for economic crash. From what Sasuke could summarize, Lightning Country was in the northeast region of the Elemental Countries, and while they might have some valuables to trade, they won't be getting much in return since they were so far away from the heart of the Land, and not many would actively seek Lightning because it simply wasn't worth it. Transporting, moving, making the goods would cost much more to them then it would to others, and they would just be losing money along the way.

Speaking in agricultural terms, Lightning country was rock. Nothing but rocks, rocks, and guess what? More rocks. The area was humid and went from hot and sticky to mist hitting your face every ten seconds. Even though the weather might be able to give life to new plants, the ground was hard and always difficult to work with.

So it was really no surprise that Lightning Village became a ninja village; it was simply the easiest way to make money. Lightning Village immediately sent over gold and other valuables as a sign of friendship and say, "Oh hey! We're not trying to threaten you or your power!" Kumo stiffly nodded and accepted. They didn't have much of a problem with a weak country trying to pick up the ninja arts. They couldn't even think of a creative name for Kami's sake! Lightning Village in Lightning Country?

What they didn't know, was that the name held significance to them. The last time the people of the village had gathered together Lightning struck the castle.

Ϟ

It started off slow; the first phase was an endurance test through the entire desert without any special gear. About fifty percent had dropped out due to lack of stamina, dehydration, illness, heat injuries, animals, etc. By the end of the three days were over, everyone but the Suna-nin looked dirty, tired, and hot, so not much info to go to there. Only that Lightning looked cooler than most, and they seemed to have the right items at the right times, even though they had not many places to put it. The next phase was like a big game of Hide-and-Seek through the entire village. The village was emptied of civilians and was instead filled with obstacles like traps, genjutsu, other teams, and mind games. They had to reach the finish line by the time three hours were up. This was where they steadily grew interesting, even though one team greeted death.

The remaining two, easily destroyed boulders, genjutsus, gotten out of quicksand, and finished looking as if they took a stroll in the park.

The third phase was when it got interesting.

It was a battle royale.

The examiners would test them on their skill throughout the entire battle, so more than one could pass, of course, but they never had a chance to.

A red-head with long hair tied in a ponytail, and a large scar that reached from his jaw to his ear.

Two fiery-haired twins with sky blue eyes that just sparkled with mischief and concealed laughs. They had smiled through the entire battle.

The last red-head (it was pretty obvious that they were all brothers) was shorter but built like a brick house, and had a talent for the sun and the flames.

In the same team as the last brother, was a kind and handsome young brunet that was quick on his feet and took to the skies.

But it was the last one that stuck to Sasuke the most.

They were all brutal, but not necessarily in the mean ninja fashion. They finished off their enemies as quick as possible and left no unnecessary blood or torture in their paths. Even so, a few seconds into the phase, only two out of the nine teams were left standing. And the others were left scattered at their feet in large heaps of bodies.

They were all good, scarily good.

How?

How could a bunch of ninjas just come out of nowhere and defeat them all? A village doesn't just come into existence one day with the strength of the gods!

' _Crash!'_

 _Bodies after bodies fell over like toy soldiers and the crowd went wild, unaware of how serious a situation like this was. The redheads and the one brunette stood in the back, looking almost as fresh as a warm summer day._

 _A young man with ink-black hair walked forward, even after the scuffle, he was left with minimal wounds, and his face was shiny with just the lightest coat of sweat._

 _A battered, beaten, Suna-nin was on his knees in front of him. His chest rose and fell, and shaky loud breaths left his mouth. He was technically the only one left standing out of the other villages except Lightning._

 _Slowly, with great difficulty, the Suna-nin rose to his feet._

 _For the first time in the entire exam, the man spoke._

" _You have fought valiantly, but in vain," he rose his head and stared at the man, his eyes grew dark and cold, "Stay down," his lips had barely moved, and it was barely above a whisper, but somehow the words had such weight to them they carried through the stadium._

 _The man paused just slightly, but continued to rise anyway._

" _Or else...I'll kill you."_

 _The body twitched for a second, before the man's eyes widened and he jumped up like a Jack-in-the-Box yelled with all of his remaining energy._

" _ **Shut up!"**_ _he roared, pointing at the unfazed raven-haired man, "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! You fuckers! I'm becoming Chuunin! What the hell do you and the rest of them know about being a ninja?! Our villages have been around for centuries! What the hell does a village in its diapers know about being a ninja?!" his yells were strained almost as if he tried to share it across the stadium and through the desert. Surrounding animals scattered in surprise. The voice was becoming more and more hoarse and soon his voice resembled rocks against one another. "The Five won't lose to the likes of —!"_

' _Bam!'_

 _The man was silenced when a foot came his way in a roundhouse kick at the speed of lightning and almost literally kicked the words out of the Suna-nin's mouth. Spit, teeth, and blood flew before the man was blasted back and crumpled like a rag doll._

But what stuck with Sasuke was that the handsome young man with jet-black hair, but held blood-red eyes and a cold smirk that was crueler than that Man during the fateful night.

Ϟ

"Oh?" Kakashi looked up. He took his eyes off his stupid orange book for the first time and his single orb observed the group of four walking towards them. "What do we have here?"

The three kids followed the man's line of sight and stopped their warm-ups.

"It's the jerks from earlier!" Naruto shouted, pointing. As always, his voice was unnecessarily loud.

The two kids from earlier walked forward. Ryuuta scowled at everything and anything, looking like he'd rather be anywhere but there. Hari was hard to read, she might've looked guilty, but nonchalant at the same time. She kept on glancing at the man behind her and the other girl behind the man.

The man stood directly behind the two, and kept his hands on their backs for what seemed to be either support or easy access if they wanted to run away at the last minute. He was taller than Kakashi only by an inch or two (if you discounted the Copy-nin's gravity defying hair.) Under his baggy brown and tan robes, it was difficult to see what his muscle structure was, but the man had such a warm and kind face. His coffee cream eyes and brown haired shined in the sun, and paired with his warm smile, he seemed like a person you could talk to forever. Even so, he had thin scars decorating his face, and a kind of weariness in his eyes, like someone recovering a mental battle.

Kakashi was assessing him, and the man didn't seem to mind, he even tilted his body slightly in a way to say that "We're not here to cause trouble."

Behind him, was a girl that was wearing a smile that looked like a cat who caught the canary. She was definitely hiding an "I told you so" in there somewhere. Her hair was brown and in messy curls, seemingly untamable and unfit for a ninja job, but it looked almost as if the wind blew in her favor. She looked nice and beautiful in that "girl-next-door" sort of way, but one look in her overly intelligent eyes made Team 7 want to take a step back from her gaze.

"I apologize if I'm interrupting something important," the man spoke up, looking at Kakashi with that same warm gaze. His fingers tightened around the pouting kids' clothes, who were squirming just the slightest bit to make a break for it.

"Mah, mah," Kakashi waved it off, "It was just team training, I'm sure whatever a Lightning-nin has to say to us must be important."

"Ah, I'm glad!" he smiled, "Well, I'm Garou, and I'm the sensei of these three kids here." when he said those words, he practically glowed with pride. It was obvious he cared for and loved his students very much. Even though Malfoy wasn't really his student.

"From what a little bird told me," here the two guilty students glared at the brown-haired girl, whose smile simply grew wider. She was practically oozing smugness, "they had caused your team some trouble. I've brought them here to apologize." Here, he lightly pushed the two forward, but from the way they lurched forward; it didn't seem to be a very gentle shove.

They looked at each other, then back at their sensei. He smiled and mouthed, 'Go on.'

Hari made the first move. She took a deep breath and bowed at a perfectly ninety degree angle in front of Team 7.

"I apologize for earlier. I should've taken my teammate and walked away instead of letting the situation escalate the way it did. I hope you forgive me," she had said. Naruto unfolded his arms from the back of his head and laughed and smiled sheepishly.

"Heh, heh! It's no big deal! I'm sure you just wanted to fight the future Hokage -ttabyo!"

She stood up straight and smiled. Her smile made Naruto feel warm inside like all of his worries were melted away.

She stepped back and the brunette nudged her lightly.

'Good job,' Hermione mouthed.

"I'm sorry about losing my head," was all Malfoy said, and Naruto nodded.

'He's such a good liar…' the girls thought, sweatdropping at this "sincereness."

"Well my cute little students, do you accept their apology?" Kakashi had asked.

"Yea-!"

"No."

Surprisingly it was Sasuke who cut in.

"The Dope was pretty hurt, we deserve some compensation, don't you think?"

"Oi! I'm fine, Teme!"

What was Sasuke saying? He didn't know what he was doing, and where he was going with this. But he schooled his features into one of aloofness and crossed his arms and closed his eyes.

"Ah!" Kakashi had said, "You're right! My poor student may be at death's door!"

"No I'm not!"

"You can make it up to us by helping us with D-ranks."

Team 7 waiting for something.

A cry of shock.

A look of terror.

Maybe some tears and dramatic music.

Instead…

The black-haired girl and the blond boy looked at each other with clear confusion.

"Um...What are D-ranks?"

.

.

.

"Are you trying to tell me you've never done a single D-rank before, dattebayo?!" Naruto's enraged cry echoed throughout the forest, alarming ninjas and scattering the birds in the trees.

* * *

I imagine Remus in jedi robes, sorry not sorry.

This is mostly a description chapter, and probably one of my last before I disappear for about 3 weeks.

And Harry is such a hard character to write. He has so many layers to his personality that he practically changes the way he acts in almost every book. For this one I'm trying to give Harry more of a ?mature? personality.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3**_

* * *

D-ranks were manual labor.

Lots and lots of manual labor.

Harry let out a deep belly sigh from the very bottom of her chest. She was already used to this from the Dursleys, of course, but that was a long, long time ago. Even so, she often had this habit of tidying up her home, or Ron's room, or Hermione's desk when she sometimes felt too giddy to be just sitting down. It drove Ron up the wall, and while Hermione smiled and thanked her every time, there were the tell-tale signs of a twitching of her eyebrow and cheek that showed just how pissed Hermione was. One does not simply move her work, after all.

Another sigh left her lips as she was brought back into reality. Emerald gems casually scanned the wooden fence in front of her from side to side, and she followed the path with her white paintbrush. She swirled the harsh, straw-like hairs into several patterns along the wood. To her left, sat Team 7, occasionally bickering with their sensei sitting on another fence reading his porn. To her right was Hermione, Draco, and Remus, all pitching in their share of labor.

All of a sudden, with her synced ninja senses, there was a stressing of something, like pulled skin. Then, after that passed, there was an explosion of wood.

"That's it!" Draco yelled, jumping up. Hermione and Hari shared the same exasperated look. "First it was moving boxes, then it was babysitting, then it was pulling weeds — You can't make me do another D-rank or else-!"

"Or else my father will hear about this?" Hari sarcastically finished for him, an almost bored look on her face. Draco inhaled with a deep blush coloring his cheeks.

"Wait," Sakura suddenly spoke up, standing up, "You guys were serious then? You've never done a single D-rank?"

Hermione nodded, and Harry knew that she was going into lecture mode, "In our village, we start off with C-ranks, not D-ranks, because D-ranks are mostly made for, well — manual labor — and while it's a good excuse to prepare the genin for higher missions, it's made to help out with teamwork, like how well the team interacts with one another.

"But in our village, D-ranks are done by Academy students, voluntarily; but in return they receive a number of hours needed to graduate. D-ranks aren't needed because our Teams are made by interactions, not skill and grades," Hermione finished her lecture with a large smile. Naruto looked confused, Sasuke was obviously listening, but attempted to pull off a "not-interested" look, and Sakura soaked up the information like a sponge. Definitely a book-smart one.

"Ah," Kakashi spoke up, "Someone does their homework."

"And this team has some of the best teamwork the country has ever seen," Remus put his hands on Hermione's and Harry's shoulder, beaming proudly, "Sadly; their original teammate couldn't make it. He contracted the flu recently, you see."

Remus took his hands off their shoulder and clapped, "Well, while this was a good exercise for building character, I'm afraid this is where we have to leave," he looked down at his students, "I just got an owl from the Leader," he whispered, but it was completely obvious that the other ninjas were able to follow along, their sensei especially, "Some _cloaked figures_ need to be contained. Some slipped past the boundaries and are moving towards the Land of Fire and we're the closest."

'Dementors,' they all thought, the same gasp running through them like a lightning strike. Simultaneously, they nodded grimly.

Remus stood up straight and looked over at Kakashi.

"I guess this is where we-"

"Kakashi-sensei I want to go on another C-rank too!" Naruto complained, pointing at them like a spoiled kid envious of another one's toy.

"Wasn't Wave enough, Naruto?" Kakashi sweetly replied.

"Psh! I can take on another Wave!" Naruto boasted, waving his hands.

"Naruto!" Sakura roared, "It hasn't even been a week! Can't you see that Sasuke-kun and I are tired?!"

"I think that's a great idea!" Kakashi suddenly spoke up.

"Huh?" Team 7 all said. Sakura was frozen mid-action of raising her fist above Naruto's head.

Kakashi clapped his hands together, "Think about it! If my cute little students tag along with yours, they'll get a real look at what true teamwork is."

"...Excuse me?" Remus seemed frozen, "Oh! No, no, no. That's not what I meant!" he was stuttering and trying to think of an excuse. He waved his arms and shook his head, "It's our mission!"

"The more the merrier, right?"

"I-I..It's a village mission, I'm not sure we can join the two — A-and the distance!"

"Oh nonsense!" Kakashi waved it off, "Villages work together all the time. And halfway between our villages it's only about three days, right? It's only C-rank! What can possibly go wrong? Jonin like us can handle any situation!"

Hermione was frozen as well, and Harry could see the gears working inside her head to try and make the situation fall in their favor. But Ron was their strategist. Hermione was their brains, yes, but she was textbook smart, not street smart. Harry was their powerhouse.

They were at a loss for words.

"And border patrol?" Hermione threw out.

"As long as we stay between our two borders no one can get in trouble."

Hermione threw Harry a helpless look.

"Ryuuta gets sick just looking at your face!" Harry shouted randomly. Team 7 just stared at her blankly. Hermione and Remus lowered their head in sync as they sighed out a mushroom cloud.

"So...Are we up for that mission?"

Ϟ

"Kakashi," the Hokage addressed, linking his fingers together in front of his face. He took another drag from his pipe and stared at the taller man. "I heard that you've had contact with the Lightning team?"

"Yes, Naruto picked a fight with one of them."

The wizened Hokage sighed, "That boy… Use this opportunity to keep an eye on them."

"Yes sir," Kakashi bowed.

"The Chuunin Exams is supposed to be a peaceful affair, but...No one knows anything about them. Sending Anbu is too dangerous; we don't know what level of skill they possess. If they were anything like the team from two years ago…"

"I understand, Hokage-sama."

Ϟ

"What are we going to do?!" Remus complained, pacing their joined hotel room. Currently, they were sitting in the family room with the lowered table and tatami mats. The windows were nice and bright with sunlight and they shone over Remus like an unhelpful halo. He continuously ran his hands through his already messy hazel brown hair. "I've already sent an owl back to Kingsley, but we'll be leaving for the mission by tomorrow morning. The letter won't be back by then!"

"Have you tried floo?" Malfoy asked, looking nonchalant as he put a cup of tea to his lips.

"It's the Minister, Malfoy, do you think he has time to answer every floo he has?" Hermione angrily retorted.

"If we say no, they'll be suspicious. If we cancel, they'll be suspicious," Remus muttered.

"Why don't we just let them come along?" Malfoy shrugged. Harry looked at the bickering figures in front of her, turning her head from side to side like a tennis match. She watched with big eyes and curious fascination.

"Let them come along?!"

"We can't do that, we'll be fighting dementors," Remus shook his head, "We'd have to pull out our wands and use magic. They're muggles, they wouldn't be able to see them, nevertheless fight them off!" Remus moaned, "The Statute of Secrecy!"

"We can...send them on a wild goose chase," Harry suggested. Everyone turned their heads towards her. "Like...we can make decoys and have them follow that while we do the real work."

"Harry, that might work on the kids, but they have Copy-nin Kakashi," Hermione explained. When everyone gave her a strange look that she often saw from Harry and Ron she continued, "The man who copied over a thousand jutsus…" she hinted, dragging along the end of her statement.

The last Marauder sighed, "I'll think of something, you kids can go and grab dinner."

One by one the kids stood up and walked over to the sliding door. Hari stopped at the door to look solemnly at the past-werewolf before closing the door behind her.

Ϟ

"A skiving snackbox then?" Harry suggested as the team walked down the bustling market street of Konoha. "We can make Malfoy eat one and cancel or something."

"Hey! Why me?!"

The two girls shared a look and giggled. They settled for a small dango shop that mostly catered to civilians and took a table. Only, they didn't know that a Sasuke Uchiha was sitting at the far corner of the restaurant, where he could see everyone, but only a select people could see him. He channeled some chakra into his ear to listen in.

"Ah, this is bad, what's the council going to say?" Hermione said worriedly. Sasuke raised an eyebrow but continued to drink his tea.

"Psh, who cares about what those old coots have to say?" Draco scoffed, waving over a waitress.

"That might've worked back in our school years, but this is current ministry we're talking about. Do you want to face Kane-sensei's wrath?"

The trio simultaneously shuttered at the thought of Professor McGonagall's anger.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it now," Draco stretched languorously.

"We'll be fighting _dementors_ , Ryuuta," Hari said with seriousness. Sasuke's eyes widened at new information. He mouthed the new and strange world and cringed at how his accent twisted it around to something almost unrecognizable to what Hari was saying earlier. His confusion grew at Hari's ability to switch between the two accents easily.

Hermione nodded, "They won't even be able to see them. We'll also have to use _that_."

What was _that_? Sasuke thought.

What were dementors?

The more information he was getting the more questions arose. He would dig through his father's old files, but that was only on old villages. His father wasn't even around to see the Chuunin exam from two years ago.

Harry sighed and placed money on the table, "I guess we just have to wait it out and see what happens."

The mystery of the Lightning Village just grew deeper.

Ϟ

The next day, Team 7 of Lightning and Team 7 of Leaf set off.

Naruto was happy, singing praises about how he was finally back to beating up bad guys again.

Sakura just scolded him.

Sasuke seemed disinterested, but there was a certain scrutiny in his eyes whenever he looked their way.

When they were a far cry away from Konoha, the tell-tale signs appeared. Wilted flowers, dying trees, and wet, dead grass from melting frost.

Remus had a plan, but it was broken when they came across the soul-sucking fiends much faster than he had expected.

The wizards shared a look and turned to their ninja companions. They were walking forward, and while the younger ones didn't seemed to notice much, or just didn't think much of it, the older one certainly did. Kakashi was on guard.

Then a big wind came, and the clouds drew nearer until the sky was painted in greys. The wind blew at their hair and the air was becoming humid with fog and mist.

Harry felt a pressure in her chest and her breathing became heavy.

Hermione put a hand on her shoulder, "Hari, are you alright?!" she yelled over the roaring wind.

Harry looked at Draco, who was getting paler by the second. Memories of Voldemort and the Second Wizarding War must've been swirling in his head.

Then she looked at Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke.

Naruto had his head bowed and fists clenching. Strangely, it looked like his whisker-like marks were darkening.

Kakashi's dark eye was obviously seeing things that he would rather forget.

Sasuke was reacting the worse to it; his breathing was labored, and somehow, when she wasn't paying attention, he had fallen to his knees. He wrapped his arms around himself like a child and his eyes were strained, blood-red with a spinning tomoe, seeing something.

Seeing death.

Sakura was worriedly looking between her teammates and sensei, crying out their names in vain.

Hermione was the first to snap out of it.

"Garou-sensei!" she yelled, snapping him out of it was well, "We have to get them out of here! They're muggles! It's their first time near the dementors!"

"You're right!" Remus yelled, "Hari, Ryuuta, grab the Leaf-nin! Hekima and Ryuuta will take them to the nearest town and leave them in a hotel room. Give them chocolate!"

Hermione quickly nodded, and Ryuuta followed a hesitant second later.

"Hari, you stay with me and fight them off!"

She nodded as she whipped out her wand.

Then the crackling sound came.

The mist that was falling all of a sudden frozen over into pin pricks all over her skin. The moist ground froze over with a fine layer of ice. Their labored breathing slowed and large clouds of smoke fell from their mouths as the warm breath made contact with cold air.

"We have to get you out of here!" Hermione cried, pulling Naruto and Sakura from their wrists.

"Hurry!" the urgency and fear was evident in their voices. Hari saw that Hermione and Draco were busy with Naruto and Sakura, Remus was helping Kakashi. That left Sasuke all alone.

"You have to-!"

Sasuke slapped Hari's hand away.

"Are you crazy?! We don't have time for-!" she turned her head, and her bright green eyes met with a cloaked figure. A scream ripped through the air when one of the dementors threw her into the air.

"Harry!" Hermione and Remus cried.

"Omph!" the air was knocked out of her as she landed harshly on her back in the forest cutoff. She quickly sat up, "Run!" she screamed. Hermione and Draco recognized the urgency of the situation and quickly ran off with Team 7.

She may be a twelve year old girl now, but she was still very much so the savior of the Wizarding World. She could take this.

Dementors were swirling the air now by the hundreds. They hung over the land like tattered ghosts and black reapers. The foulest of creatures had made their way to Konoha.

'How did so many escape?' she whimpered, trying to look for her wand. Her breath was cut off when she realized that it was harmlessly laying on the ground beside Sasuke.

She tried to get up on her aching legs, but then a bony, cold hand wrapped around her neck and lifted her up. It was gross and terrifying, as if that very hand was what crawled out of the depths of the sewers and darkness. The cloaked face drew closer to hers, and her dulling eyes looked into a dark, wrinkled, toothless mouth. It opened in the perfect 'O' and she felt more and more empty as the seconds ticked by.

But then she saw something in the corner of her eye, a figure dressed in blue.

'Sasuke didn't go with them!' her eyes widened, and she mustered up all of her strength to reach into her thigh pouch. In a flash, she whipped out a kunai and slashed it across the eyes. It shrieked in pain and anger and dropped her harshly onto the ground.

Sasuke was now fighting them off with his own kunai, but his moves were sluggish, and it looked as if he lost all motivation for living. Why was he even fighting? What was the point? To kill that man, and then what? The dementors were closing in on him now, and his eyes were cloudy, he felt _something_ leaving, but he didn't know what it was. No, it wasn't just something.

It was something important.

'No, give it back…'

"Sasuke!" she shrieked. His head snapped to the side. With effort, she ran across the road, picked up what seemed to be a harmless stick off the gravel and ran towards him. A heartbeat later, warm, yet thin and small arms wrapped around him.

"Don't you dare knock out on me!" she cried, looking up at the swirling sky. He did a good job fighting off what he couldn't see, but she guessed from his red eyes, he saw something, at least. She put the wooden stick into his right hand and laced her fingers with his, all while keeping her left arm around his torso.

"Think of your happiest memory! I'm going to need your help for this!" she demanded.

"What?!"

"Just do it!" her voice was urgent, pleading. He could understand the situation.

Sasuke racked his brain for his happiest memory, but all he came up with was his childhood, memories of Itachi, all tainted by that one night. Then he drew closer to the present, his team. Training with Team 7, challenging Naruto. When his body relaxed just the slightest bit, Hari tightened the grip on his hand and cried out with all of her energy and all of her might:

"Expecto Patronum!" there was a power behind her words, a certain desperation that made the hair on Sasuke's arms raise. The 'M' was dragged out from her words and her screams seem to echo all across the forest until it felt like it was only those two in the entire world.

A glowing silvery light appeared, and it was read in Sasuke's sharingan as nothing but pure energy. It pulsed and spread across the road like a warm heartbeat. Color returned to his skin, and there was a feeling akin to lying down in bed. Warm, and comfortable the peace of a situation. Energy pulled on their hair and pushed away those monsters. A stag, and what seemed to be the faintest form of a hawk charged them away.

Seconds before the light died out, and the road was empty again, Sasuke felt himself falling, almost as if he was in slow motion.

Right before his head hit the floor, he remembered.

His dream was to revive his clan.

His chest felt lighter, he had something to look forward to.

When it all went black, he heard a scream.

"Sasuke!"

Ϟ

"Did you give them chocolate?" Hermione nodded. "Did you put them to bed?" Hermione nodded at this as well.

"I promised them that we'd explain in the morning."

Remus sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. At this moment, Hari had walked in with new clothes and a towel to dry her wet hair.

"Oh, Harry," Remus stared, said girl looked up, "From the memory you gave me...there was something I didn't understand."

"What is it, Remus?" she sat beside Hermione, who pushed a cup of hot chocolate towards Hari, to which the girl nodded thankfully and gave the other girl a quick, one-armed hug. She looked up at her father's friend.

"When you were fighting off the dementors, you asked that Uchiha boy to help you, but... you can do strong Patronuses on your own, why?" Hermione and Draco were shocked at this. She used magic in front of the Uchiha?

Harry looked down at the wooden table; she ran her finger along the rim of her cup. She was obviously thinking hard and in dark thoughts. After a while, she decided to answer quietly, "Because that boy...was just like me." From the way she said it, they knew that se wanted to drop the conversation. They've been around Harry long enough to know her moods. The room fell silent after that statement, and nothing else was said about that matter.

"I just don't get it," Hermione said, breaking the silence after a while. "How did they escape? Usually they float along the cavern's surrounding the village. Who could have possibly let them past the ruins?"

Draco — who was silent up till now — spoke up.

"I do," it was quiet, not even a whisper. If it weren't for the fact that it was night, and the town and hotel was sleeping, they wouldn't have heard him.

"What is it, Draco?"

Wordlessly, he passed a skull mask in their direction.

"I found it on the ground when I was helping the girl."

The remainder of them gasped.

"Antonin Dolohov."

Ϟ

Hari left her hotel room with a metal bucket in hand to go grab some more ice. The moon was high, and the night dyed the white walls blue. Silent cat-steps padded down the hallway, and she stopped, and turned. Everyone else was deep into the arms of sleep, if she could sense correctly.

"Sasuke," she addressed, "Was there something you wanted to say?"

The preteen stood ominously in the middle of the hallway. His head was lowered, and his bangs shadowed his face in a terrifying way.

"I'm not going to ask you about earlier," he suddenly said, his voice was slightly raspy. She raised an eyebrow. "But two years ago, the Chuunin exams." She crossed her arms and waited for the suspense to blow her away.

"The red-eyed man, do you know him?" he demanded. Her eyes widened for a second before she closed them.

"Yes," she answered, his breath hitched for a second. She paused, trying to decide to tell him or not, "His name is Tsutomu."

'His name was Tom Marvolo Riddle.'

For some reason, such a simple statement from a name made the air heavy like it was filled with cement blocks.

She turned so she can fully face him. She dropped her arms. The night lights draped over one side of her face like a luminous veil.

'And he was the man who killed my parents.'

"He's my brother," she added next, finishing her statement.

* * *

Holy shit over 100 favorites!? I said I wasn't going to write another chapter for about 2 more weeks, but after seeing the favorites I just had to!

Also, there has been requests for their stats and character files overall, and I will do that, but I'll do so in several more chapters. I will have more characters revealed by then so I can do it all at once.

And can someone think of a pairing for Gaara? It's kind of a random request, but I just love Gaara as a character and as a person and I was completely disappointed (in his hair) in his adult form when I found out that he has no kids of his own. He may not seem like the dating type to some, but I would totally love it if he had a chance to fall in love himself. Gaara deserves that at least. I read story Naruto and the Goblet of Fire by Reidluver and totally fell in love with the Gaara/Luna thing going on. The thing is I'm also in love with Luna and Neville as a pairing and was totally disappointed when they didn't get together in canon.


	4. Chapter 4

Death was a selfish bastard.

She later came to know him as a lonely bastard.

Ϟ

Tom Riddle was reborn on a chilly summer night to Akira and Hitoshi Nazo. For an uncertain amount of time he had remembered existing; not exactly living and not exactly breathing, but just surviving. Existing. It all made sense to him then, he was suspended for about nine months in a capsule of human life. When he was reborn he was small and cold. His eyes and muscles were weak; he didn't have control of any of his limbs, except for waving them around like a deranged seal.

Then, he had remembered, as he was in the arms of his new mother what had happened. He had come to Hogwarts triumphed; he stood proud and falls like a king with his army. The large oaf from his Hogwarts years was forced to follow, carrying _the_ Harry Potter's dead body. Oh, he was proud, for the first time in forever, he felt the emotion of happiness.

He was practically drunk off the feeling and he couldn't help the face-splitting smile off his disfigured face as he opened up his arms to Harry Potter's fearful friends as he proclaimed the words, "Harry Potter...Is dead!"

The reaction was immediate, and her friends were sobbing and yelling. Until that Longbottom boy came along, and everything went downhill.

The round-faced boy's words did little to deter him, if anything, it amused him. How the boy tried to rally up the dead spirits of his friends, it was touching, and hopeless.

Then Harry Potter had slipped through his grasp once more and declared herself alive and well. Draco Malfoy had switched sides last minute and threw the girl's wand back to its rightful owner. He was enraged, how could this have happened? What God was on Harry's side to have allowed her to escape death from his hands for more than seventeen years now?

Then chaos ensued, and they were in the thick of it again.

Their wands met. And all of a sudden, the last thing Tom Marvolo Riddle saw was the face of a worn out Harriet Potter, with her face and clothes smeared with dirt and her hair matted with mud and leaves from the forest. There was emerald green eyes, and a light of red, and all went black.

His body shook at the memory and his eyes burned horribly at the memory. No, there was nothing he hated more than that very face and that very shade of green. Lord Voldemort didn't particularly like anything, but he tolerated the color green. Especially emerald green.

It was the color of power and nobility.

It was the color of green that decorated his robes all seven years of Hogwarts. It was the very shade of Avada Kedavra that he grew so fond of.

It was then ruined by _that girl_.

This girl was the one who made him face death.

Relief wracked through Tom's young body, and tears soon started to stream down his face and his whole throat was numb with the screams he was letting out.

Yes, yes, yes!

He wasn't dead after all. No matter what that old man Dumbledore had said there was nothing Tom feared more than death. And he still believed that there was nothing worse than dying. He didn't know what overcame him, these raw emotions. He's never felt such sadness and anger and relief at the same time. Was it the new body? The air? Or was it the lack of love potion from his parents this time around?

It didn't matter, to him; all that mattered was the rebirth, a second chance. This time around no one will be around to mess up his path to power any longer.

Ϟ

Nazo Tsutomu was an intelligent and handsome young boy. Everyone said so. He had beautiful black hair that resembled the night and curious apple-red eyes. He was polite and civil, but it confused everyone to why a child like him wouldn't want to do childlike things. While the other kids were working on their first kanji — by then it looked like scribbles a chicken could do — he was already working on mastering the language, and he was working his way up with thick scrolls and textbooks. After that, he worked on chemistry, physics, math, philosophy, medicine and science. He was Lightning's very own prodigy. Some say he surpassed even Itachi Uchiha, who was just several months younger than Tsutomu himself. But this was a ninja village now, they had joked, and Tsutomu was their little secret.

And it was never broken.

While he was smart, and handsome, and the perfect little gentlemen, other kids tended to stay away. He was too strange; he was out of their league, they had sensed. Even teachers took one look at his young, unnerving eyes and looked away.

They wondered who he got it from.

Definitely not his klutz of a mother, and especially not his brawn over brain father. Tom could say he tolerated them to an extent. His mother liked singing and baking but was tone-deaf and her clumsiness made even the simplest of chores a bigger job than it was supposed to. He had always wondered why he kept up with it, and even shadowed her to fix her everyday mistakes.

What was he gaining?

Why did he do such?

He didn't know, but he did know that there was something that felt good about it. And Tom's intuition was always correct.

His father was a Chuunin, and while that age didn't match up with rank, Tom excused him with the fact that their village was still being formed, and ranks were barely being handed out. His father had tried, he really did. He took his son out for trips to the training grounds and he liked to swing baby Tom onto his shoulders and into the air. He would never admit that he liked the thrill of it.

"There's more to life than hitting the books," his father often said, "You can learn more about the real world with your friends."

Tom just nodded and faked a smile in a child-like manner, and life went on.

Ϟ

Only, life went on until he turned seven.

He waved the announcement of his new sibling aside. A little sibling would only be a burden to him, he often thought. But he smiled and pretended for nine months straight to be the best big brother ever. He had no time for any brothers and sisters. No, he had to train; he had to become the absolute best.

He would let life run its course, he thought, swinging his sword. It was neither brawn over brain or brain over brawn, but ambition. The seven-year old Tom Riddle held his heavy sword up to the light and let the sun silhouette its figure.

In a world full of shinobi and chakra, the powerful and the weak are apparent as night and day. The strong survive here; and the weak die off. He admits that being a wizard had turned him lazy. After all, he had magic to do his dirty work and followers who cleaned them up. It was different now, so how was he supposed to become the most fearsome of them all? Would the intelligence of a Ravenclaw let him slip past situations like a snake? Or was it the brawn of a Gryffindor that allowed him to force his way through battles with the speed and punch of a pistol?

The answer was simple: to do both well.

Tom Riddle smirked to himself as he brought his sword down with a mighty swing, and cut the piled pieces of bamboo perfectly.

Then, nine months later, a baby girl was conceived.

His mother was tired, sweaty and breathless, but she mustered up all of her energy to sit up on her uncomfortable hospital bed and held the new baby like she was the most fragile thing in the world.

His mother had smiled, and beckoned him over, her eyes teary and shining like the stars as they fell on her new princess. For all eight hours of labor, he sat in the corner of the room obediently reading his books.

He walked over with unreadable emotion in his eyes. Then, when he looked over at the small bundle, he had felt something in that empty hole that people would call a heart. He had looked at her small tuft of black hair, to her closed eyes, to her nose, and then he had counted all of her little toes and fingers.

He was confused.

This didn't happen often.

Only when those eyes opened, revealing bright emerald orbs, his emotions became clearer. Anger, rage, fear. Harry Potter was here again. She had followed him over to the next life as his own blood. Their parents cooed at the unfamiliar shade, but Tsutomu know what hid behind those underlying shades of emerald green. Didn't his parents notice that they were too intelligent for a newborn? That those eyes belonged to a killer — his killer?

Without another word, Tom Riddle had remembered storming out of the hospital room.

Ϟ

There were no second chances.

Tom wasn't about to let Harry Potter ruin his chances to power yet again, he thought as he snuck into the baby's room in the dead of night. He clutched a pillow in his hand, and planned to suffocate her with it.

He wasn't about to make the same mistake twice and use flashy jutsus and spells. His hand twitched as he pooled magic into his hand just for show. Defenseless little Potter was here now, and she could do nothing to fight back. Kunais and stab wounds would be too messy, too hard to explain to his new parents.

But suffocation, yes. It left no marks on her pale, snow-like skin.

Throw her down the stairs, maybe. Tom could easily say that he was planning to take his dear little sister somewhere and accidentally dropped her. Surely his parents would favor him. He was their son for seven years now, and she had only been their daughter for three months.

He had waited his long because his parents had fluttered around their new daughter like annoying hummingbirds for about that long. So he endured being the good older brother for about three months longer. His mother's maternity leave had just ended, and she was going back to the academy to teach, and his father was going back on his missions. This left Tom alone with the baby.

He stood over the crib; pillow clenched in his hands, and watched the sleeping Harriet as the moon waited overhead.

He lowered his hands and planned to press the pillow against her face until startled green eyes suddenly flashed open. He gasped softly, and quickly hid the pillow behind his back. Almost as if he was scared of what a newborn was going to do.

He internally scoffed.

He had underestimated the toddler back then too.

Emerald eyes watched him for a while, and the eyes were probably adjusting to the dark room. He scowled; those eyes were definitely mocking him.

He was only shocked when all of a sudden the toothless mouth opened to reveal healthy pink gums and she laughed at him.

Not the cold, sarcastic laugh, but a happy, bubbling one. One truly deserving of a baby sister to her older brother.

He grit his teeth, gripping the pillow so tightly that it flattened the stuffing inside and turned his knuckles white. His breathing tried to even itself as he spun around on his feet. He was feeling merciful today, and will allow helpless Baby Potter to live her short second just for another day.

He would kill her tomorrow, he had said.

And he said the same thing the next day, and the next day. And the day after that, and the day after that.

Ϟ

One day, Lightning ninjas had come to their home and informed the small family that his father had died on a mission from rogue ninjas.

Tom didn't feel bad, his father was weak and only the strong lived, after all. This was the price his father had to pay in the challenge called life.

Though he would never admit that he felt a dull ache in his chest whenever the image of a tall, muscled young man in his early thirties appeared in his head.

His mother fell into a deep depression after that.

And during this time when she couldn't even take care of herself, Tom put it upon himself to take care of his little sister. Somehow during that transition, he became the big brother figure.

Being responsible for another human changes people, he thought one day, as a passing thought flowed through his head.

But Tom wasn't human, not until recently anyway.

Soon, their mother had passed as well.

Love? He scoffed.

Love didn't save their parents.

He stilled for a while after that.

Parents?

Since when did he start calling them that?

Since when did he have parents?

In a past life it was always his deceased mother and his useless muggle father.

He sneered and shook his head.

Love…

Love didn't seem to save them either.

Especially not when a lady at the orphanage told them they ran out of space, so they were going to have to fend for themselves for a while. Or at least until she can find a new family for his little sister. Tom was of growing age, and was soon to be a ninja. Tom nodded, eager to get this kid off his hands.

Ϟ

They had a routine after that.

In their big, empty home, Tom would rise at exactly six o'clock in the morning, freshen up, prepare breakfast, and then wake up his sister. After that, he would get her to freshen up, comb her messy hair, and get her dressed. They would eat breakfast and he would send her off to the day care services while he finished the last year in the academy. If she had any idea that he was Tom Riddle, the man who ruined her life and killed her parents, in the short attention span she had as a toddler, she didn't mention it.

One day, when she was three and he was ten.

It was another bright and shining day. The sunlight easily filtered from their closed shades on their kitchen window and lit up the yellow room that their mother had loved.

They sat at the raised, wooden dining table for another quiet breakfast, as it always was.

Harry had placed her chopsticks over her rice bowl and said simply, almost as if she was discussing the weather:

"I hate you, you know."

Things happened in a flash of lightning.

It was too fast for Harry to comprehend.

She had remembered chopsticks clattering, and the overly loud scraping of wood against wood, and all of a sudden the table was being pushed against as her "brother" quickly leapt over the table and jumped over to her side. Food, plates and cups were easily knocked over and their contents spilled and mixed together into a disgusting single puddle. His hands slammed against her shoulders and she fell back on her chair. Her head painfully collided with the wooden backing of the chair as they all collided with the floor. She quickly sucked in a breath as the air was knocked out of her. She rolled off the chair, with her back on the wooden flooring, and all of a sudden her brother was looming over her.

A larger hand wrapped around her neck and her brother was sitting on top of her, breathing hard. He had a terrifying expression on his face. His red eyes gleamed dangerously and he looked the angriest she had ever seen him.

Even so, she mustered a painful smile as her air was being cut off.

"Do you...Remember me...Tom?" she taunted in her gravelly voice, speaking in English for the first time. Tears were threatening to fall and her neck was sure to bruise, "I'm the one that killed...you…"

His eyes had widened, for so long he has been Tsutomu. That's the first time he's been called Tom in a while. Also, after several years of nothing but Japanese, hearing English was almost foreign to his ears. Sure, he's kept (regular — never making that mistake again) coded diaries in English, recording his processes, but he never did not have a reason to speak it, nor had a chance to hear someone else say it. The words almost flowed as if she were singing a broken song compared to the Japanese language. It's almost as if he was becoming a different person. He let out an enraged yell and tightened the grip on her throat. Harriet Potter let out a cry, but didn't try to remove his hands. With another scream of frustration from his mouth, he stood back up, panting from some exertion.

He angrily pushed off everything on the table — what wasn't already knocked over anyway — and his uncontrolled magic caused their dishware to rattle and shake. Some even exploded. He was just too deep into his thoughts to care or notice.

He then stormed out of the room, took his coat from the coat rack, and left.

Hari was left staring at the white door, confusion clear and apparent in her face.

He could've killed her, then and there.

But he didn't.

The next day, his eyes were dull. There was no hint of that intelligent shine or mischievous gleam in his ruby red gems anymore.

But he had gotten up at six, freshened up, and prepared breakfast. He woke up Harry and checked up on the bruises around her neck as she rose. He then got her to freshen up, combed her hair, dressed her, and then the siblings ate breakfast together.

Ϟ

The annoying lady was back again. The one from the orphanage. Her smile was irritatingly fake and overly wide as she greeted the young man who opened the door. He was a ninja now, he had graduated several years early due to his good grades and the need for money.

"Hi there!" she cheered, "Do you remember me?"

Why did she feel the need to dumb down her words as if she was speaking to an incompetent child? He simply nodded, glaring up at the women as he held the door open. She faltered for a bit, seeing his expression, but continued to smile at the boy. He sighed internally. At times like this he wished he was back in his old body. He would have difficulty getting stuff from high shelves if it weren't for magic, but he still didn't like it when people were taller and looked down on him.

He sighed once more as another thought hit him.

He would have to go through puberty again.

He's been so busy recently that the thought slipped his mind-

"I'm just here to tell you that we finally found a big and happy family to take in Hari-chan!"

He was taken back. His eyes were widening and he quickly snapped his head up to look at the women. His eyebrows furrowed as if couldn't comprehend the words. His mouth was gaping and he found it difficult to breathe.

"If you just sign some papers and pack up her stuff-"

"You can't do that," he suddenly said, he inwardly cursed when his voice wavered just a bit. He was shaking and he willed himself to stop, but he continued to tremble in fear or anxiety. He mustered up all the authority and power he had when he was the Dark Lord and put more force into these words than he ever did with his punches, kicks and slashes. Than with anything his whole life.

"She's the only one I have left."

And with that, he had shut the door with an echoing 'click!'

Ϟ

It was early in the morning — a bit too early. The sun had yet to rise over their heads and shine over the hotel roof. Even so, the clouds and depressing weather of the dementors still lingered around the area. They were just glad that the rain stopped falling several hours ago, leaving the dirt floor moist but not muddy.

Due to the darkness of the morning, they resorted to using the cheap lanterns that bathed the room in artificial white light.

Harry sat on the darker side of the room, where the traditional table was.

She sat in with her legs folded underneath her, but she didn't pay attention to the blood that slowly stopped flowing to her legs. She's been sitting there for a while, dimly looking at a small processed picture in her hands.

'Tomu…' she thought. She sighed and closed her eyes.

It was stupid, she thought, he was the man who killed her past parents.

But...He was also the man that raised her, and who she called brother.

He was a monster, but…that's not to say that he was incapable of loving.

Suddenly, the door clicked open and Hermione walked in.

"Harry?" she asked, trying to spot the girl. Harry sat up straighter, "C'mon, the Konoha team is awake."

Harry nodded and stood up, ignoring the static feeling in her asleep legs. She placed the worn out picture back in her pocket and walked to the Konoha-nins' room.

* * *

Writing Tom Riddle as a big brother was seriously the most difficult thing ever. Can anyone actually imagine him as a doting brother?

 _Harry: can toothpaste go bad?_

 _Tom: there is no such thing as good or bad, only power and those too weak to seek it._

 _Harry: I don't think that answers my question, but ok._

Not to say that Tom completely changed though.

I've also gotten asks about their names and their stats and I will do that once more characters are revealed.

Success! I have finished this chapter!

This week was extremely hectic and I am extremely tired.

First it was finals week/last week of school, and then an anime convention was just the day after.

Hahaha, it was extremely CLUTCH. My friends and I planned to cosplay HXH and we pulled an all nighter last night to do both Gon and Killua from start to finish. But it was totally worth it! Everyone was extremely sweet and I saw so many beautiful Sasuke cosplayers *fangirls and swoons*


	5. Chapter 5

Tenyo Takiyo was an old, old man.

And he doesn't mean that to degrade himself or put himself down. It's true, there's no other adjective to describe him except for old, elderly, on Death's door, etc. He's older than the Third Hokage even.

The man nods to himself as he walks down the slightly busy market street. Every now and then, several people would give him a nod in greeting, or say hello, which the old man happily returned.

Now, just because he is of elderly age, doesn't mean that one should underestimate him. Not one bit. He could still get these old joints working, and while he isn't as fast or as strong as he was in his youth he could still take care of himself.

He was in the First and Second Great Shinobi War, after all.

He sighed, but after the Second had he then realized that the thrill and excitement of the ninja wasn't all that it was cut up to be. Well, of course he knew that, but war used to be about honor and power. They would idolize it and put it up on a pedestal.

When he told his son his stories, his too-intelligent son had muttered something like " _pro patria mori_ " under his breath. I know, complete gibberish, right? He wasn't too sure if that's what his ninja-trained ears heard either, but his son was still a toddler so he passed it off as baby babble and he moved on with his life.

Ah! Right! His son!

A burst of pride flowed through him, even after thirty-eight years, every time he laid eyes on his son was just like the very first.

He should start at the beginning though.

You see, Lighting Village, this little plot and piece of land is all here thanks to him; and he isn't bragging either. A little time after the Second Shinobi War ended, he had left his own village, Kumogakure, to find himself, basically.

Leaving the village was easy enough, he was the second cousin to the third Raikage, and the first cousin once removed to the current Raikage, A.

Back to the topic, Lightning was a little refugee camp, to put it into nice words. It was a place where people were trying to escape the wartimes and the struggles during the Second Shinobi War. So he thought, why not turn this place into something great?

And that's how it all started.

Buildings were built, governments were made, and politics were discussed.

While they weren't the richest or rolling in money like the other villages, he was happy, the people were happy, and that's all that mattered.

A decade or so before the Third Shinobi War, he had a child: Tenyo Kusari.

Who later grew up to be a dark-skinned, broad-shouldered young man with dark hair in contrast to him and his second cousin, A.

While they weren't a ninja village, Takiyo made sure to teach his son everything he knew, and he grew up to be stronger than any ol' ninja, if he may say so himself.

Only, his son was a little strange.

He's smart, definitely.

Strong? Well, he is his son after all.

It's just that...he never really seemed like a child. Sure, he acted like one, and pretended to be one, but Takiyo could see the tell-tale signs that he was pretending.

He displayed strange behavior. And not the I-talk-to-imaginary-friends kind, or I-have-no-friends, but rather — he was able to reach his toys from high up places, or whenever he wanted to train when his father wasn't around, he did exactly that. But — the thing was, Takiyo had always kept his swords and kunais locked in a sealed box, hidden where his son couldn't find it. He guessed he was wrong on that last part, Kusari always found it.

Takiyo forcefully shoved those thoughts away and moved on with his life.

Gosh — how could he describe this?

Hm, for starters, his son wasn't very social; a natural born leader and well-liked, yes. But he didn't have many friends. He could actually count the number of friends he had on one hand.

The most major one was probably a red-haired politician he's known since childhood. The ginger grew up to marry another ginger and he became Kusari's trusty advisor.

He also got along with some older politicians, a few reliable people from his side. One was Kane-san, a fierce member of the law. But recently she had decided to retire to become an academy teacher and to spend some more time with her husband.

A few other jounin and teachers filled in the rest of the numbers.

He thought it was strange, but didn't dwell much on it. Smart people were often isolated from everyone else, after all.

Only when Kusari became the new leader of the village was when things started to get really freaky.

He decided to turn it into a ninja village; okay, Takiyo could handle that. Sure he was more geared toward peace, but the village was running low on funds and his son was a pacifist anyway.

Soon, brick buildings in contrast to wooden ones, and cobblestone streets instead of paved dirt started popping up and decorating his village.

Treats like chocolate frogs with little bits of chakra embedded into them so they would animate for small periods of time came into view and the children loved it. So he never said a thing.

This storybook village was a fairytale compared to the outsiders.

They weren't harming anyone, he thought, as he mirrored his village — his son's village now — with the other villages in the Elemental Nations, and they don't even look the slightest bit similar. He might as well compare his left arm with a reptile's.

Then these people started showing up. Well — that wasn't the right word. It was a baby boom. After the Second Shinobi War it was only natural that baby booms would start happening everywhere. But this generation was all strange, unlike any he's ever seen in all of his life in the entire elemental nations. They were all in tune to one another, as if they were all a painting or a picture that shared the same story.

His people — the normal ones — they would never suspect a thing. These people all grew up together, and they were a small village where everyone knew everyone. What kind of bad people would suspect their neighbors?

Though the strangest of all had to be the newest generation.

Every village had some form of defense, shinobi village or not. Usually it was just single person teaching the local kids how to fight and how to defend. He himself, back in his glory days, took up that job. So it was safe to say that while they were behind in the times compared to the Shinobi Villages, they weren't too behind so that they would never catch up.

But these kids — this new generation...

It was like a whole year for prodigies.

Nazo Tsutomu was the most notorious in their village, especially after his little stunt at the Chuunin Exams, but it was truly his little sister that was the real leader.

He's never seen a more vicious group of shinobi since Uchiha Madara's time.

Well — vicious wasn't the right word, they were all really nice kids. (Except for the wealthy merchant's son, that blond kid can go burn in hell.)

But he swears, the moment they could walk and talk, the moment they had entered the academy at the age of four. It seemed as if they never sat down. Every burning muscle and every ache in their bones was made up from their fighting spirit.

Taijutsu was first.

It had started with his son taking several trips to the academy to promote the young with feel-good speeches about willpower and peace. Then, he would take some of his time off to train the little ones. Nothing major, just the relatively basic hits and kicks.

Some of these kids had already had elder siblings to show them some of the shinobi ways, like the Nazos and the red-headed family.

But how does that explain the fluidity of their motions? Like they've done it a million times before? Sure, everyone was making an effort to adapt to the new shinobi rules…No, it was more than that.

Team 7 moved together like the sun, stars and sky. They were as swift as the raging tides along a smooth beach. And their classmates moved in their orbit like a revolving sun.

The ones that didn't pick it up as quickly were instantly helped and encouraged by the others with a familiarity that seemed to go past their four years of living.

Soon, after that, their training was _hell_.

And he says this as a war-hardened shinobi: their training was hell. With not many shinobis around them, nor did their village have much shinobi background; they carved their own path to the ninja way.

They had talent, and any village could say what they want about his ninjas, but he was there and he saw the strained muscles on the kids, the sweat, and the tears. He was the one who saw under the moonlight nights as their face illuminated with redness and fatigue. Often times their little bodies couldn't handle it so a lot of throwing up happened.

But it worked — the pushups, the sit-ups, beating their friends down only to pick them back up and start again. They often helped with village innovations; sometimes they just went to clearings and dragged or demolished boulders.

It was all worth it.

By the end of their first year in the academy — if it were possible, it obviously was, the proof was right in front of him — their taijutsu was just as good as any high genin, low chuunin.

What was their motivation? What would they gain from this entire struggle?

They had just gotten out of a Shinobi War, sure, but that was a promise of peace. Hopefully, none of them would have to fight seriously for a very long time. He continues to ask himself this as they took to ninjutsu and chakra like a fish to water.

Actually, all of them were scarily good at ninjutsu, now that he thought about it.

While he's never actually seen them do the tree-walking exercise, or the leaf-spinning exercise, they did overpowered Fire, Water, and Earth Jutsus. They managed to sneak away as if they were never there in the first place, almost as if they have never even existed.

The Body-Flicker Technique seemed to be child's play for them.

He laughed softly to himself.

What was next? Flying?

All of this heavy thinking was giving him migraines again, Takiyo thought, rubbing his temples and then pinching the bridge of his nose.

But these kids weren't harming anyone, and the entire group seemed to be as thick as thieves, so...he guessed that he could let this one thing slide.

Ϟ

Three years ago, it was a nice and beautiful day out in the Lightning Village.

The day was so stereotypically normal; the sun was shining, the birds were singing, etc.

Early in the morning, the villagers rushed around to get the early deals in the market and some of the children laughed and played along the streets.

Yep, it was a perfectly normal day.

Except, it wasn't.

Unaware of what was truly happening, the muggles didn't know of what to make of the thick tension seeming to permit the air, thickening the atmosphere like heavy pollution.

Deep inside one of the government buildings, witches and wizards of all ages sat side-by-side together.

Ϟ

It was styled like how the old Wizengamot building was, except the color pattern was cream and marble green, much more brighter and artistic. It had rising seats all around the circular room, and the room itself was enlarged magically to fit one of those long tables that kings had for parties and dining.

On one side sat the "good" side; the winners of the Second Wizarding War. Of course this included the Order of the Phoenix, all of the Weasleys, all of the Hogwarts teachers, Dumbledore's army, etc. On the other side sat the Death Eaters.

Who knew that there would be a day where they would be more-or-less peacefully sitting across from one another.

In the auditorium style seats sat the other Hogwarts students, the ones that just fought for Hogwarts not because they had any connection to Harry, but because it was their school. Hogsmeade residents sat there as well, and if Harry shifted her body just the slightest bit, she could see the Malfoy family standing near the entrance of the room.

The Death Eater side was slightly empty, only because well, — Harry wouldn't put it this way exactly — most of them were enraged by the young Tom Riddle's order of laying low for a while, and some of them had their heads too far into their asses to stop them from running into higher powers. She scoffed; Fenrir Greyback won't be dearly missed anyway. She only wished that she would find those ninjas that slain him and personally shake their hands. As expected, their egos were too big and left no space for their brains. In this new world, practically 1% of the village's population made up the wizards, which probably left the wizard population down to 0.001% compared to the rest of the Elemental Nations. They couldn't possibly cause another Pureblood fiasco unless they wanted to clear out the entire human race.

She looked around the room; surely there were more combatants to the Battle of Hogwarts than this?

The centaurs never wanted much to do with them anyway, and had found themselves a home in a forest that was a bit too close to Kumo for their liking, but they had stayed hidden for this long, so they breathed a little easier.

Harry and Kingsley had personally found them and she apologized for them coming here without their consent. But they had brushed it off and said that it was the stars that wanted them here or something.

There was never a real reason to actively keep them near them anyway. They stood out of people's way and weren't very good conversationalists unless you wanted your conversation to go a little something like:

"Hi! How are you?"

"Mars is bright tonight."

...And that's about it.

Hagrid personally took care of the Acromantula — thankfully, they had come to this world in small numbers, so they were easier to tangle.

Giants were very hard to find surprisingly, but there were currently no sightings of them, so it was all water under the bridge to Harry. (Except for Grawp, he's happily staying with Hagrid.)

House Elves were given to wizarding families who needed it.

And Thestrals were very domesticated animals. They had no problems being hidden in homes or barns. The temperature was slightly hotter than the one back in Scotland, so letting them out in the open wasn't a good idea.

Dementors were wild and difficult to handle. Due to them, it seemed as if their village went through moments of depression when they had first started arriving out of nowhere. The old Hogwarts teachers and the Order quickly moved and they had a blast experimenting with shinobi technology to seal them all, and then tossed that seal into a narrow canyon. Hopefully to never be seen again. It was the only way, after all.

Dementors could not be destroyed, but they do die off due to the conditions they live in. Dementors, for all they know, live everywhere, but the tropics and they certainly weren't the tropics. Leaving the dementors out in the open to smoke them out would be too risky, because while the result would be permanent, leaving them around the civilians and muggles would be a bad idea. Sealing them — leaving them in a form of suspended animation — was the only way.

It was strange to know that chakra could work to bring down dementors —

But enough of the background information.

Right at this moment, Tom Riddle, previously known as the Dark Lord, or He-Who-Must-Not-be-Named; and Harry Potter, Girl-Who-Lived, Girl-Who-Conquered, were standing side-by-side in front of the room.

Once everyone settled down, they all faced the two.

"Um…" she started out, breaking out in cold sweat at the attention she was getting. The gazes of everyone were like holes burning into her skin. Hermione and Ron sent her a disarming smile, and she felt a little bit better. What was there to be nervous about? It was only her...and her worst enemy by her side.

And her old friends!

And the Death Eaters that killed some of them… (Even though whenever she tried to apologize to her fallen friends, only some of them were bitter about it. The rest of them shook it off with a smile and even treated her like she was the victim.)

She shook her head to get rid of these melancholy thoughts and tried to lighten her heavy heart.

She was about to start again, but then the double doors had burst open and cut her off. Clicking shoes echoed against the patterned tile and a flowing black cloak followed suit of the man striding towards them.

Gasps were sounded all around the room. Emerald green eyes widened with surprise while ruby red ones narrowed with amusement.

He stopped at the end of the table, beetle-black eyes scrutinized each side of the table, and some of the people started to whisper and gossip at the new arrival.

The tension in the room seemed to build up even more, rising like a crescendo of rolling drums that tapped in a never ending beat.

He raised an eyebrow, and made his way to the empty seat beside a stern-faced witch. McGonagall nodded to him as he sat down, but he gave no reply as he turned towards Harry and Tom.

Unconsciously, a large smile painted her face at the arrival of the man and she felt some more weight lifted off her shoulders. She almost felt like laughing and losing herself in light, bell-like giggles.

She looked up at the taller male beside her, who had a beautiful smirk on his face like a prince handed presents, almost as if for…support? He looked down at her, noticing her actions, and they slightly shifted closer together.

These actions, however small, was caught by their peers and confused almost everyone. She ignored the odd looks for now.

"We," she started out breathily, eyes going from side to side, "Tsutomu and I...Ask for an impasse."

* * *

Another short description chapter, but hopefully it answered some of your questions. Next chapter we'll go back to the present.

Discussions:

[1] I'm absolutely heartbroken by McGonagall's backstory and I had to add in the fact that she finds happiness — romance wise — in this life. Seriously! She deserves this!

[2] There's not much to go on about Kingsley in the books and movies for me to pinpoint his exact personality, but there's a few things for me to go on like how he's a good leader, someone for the people, etc. So I'm not really sure if he would make such drastic changes to his father's village. He would obviously see the civilians/muggles as his people as well, but I just wanted to highlight the fact that they're so different from everyone else. (It does say that Kingsley was very good at acting/pretending to be a muggle.)

[3] While magic and reincarnation gives them all types of advantages, I also wanted to highlight the fact that they worked hard too.

And does anyone play Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4? Lederhosen!Naruto and Napoleon!Sasuke are now canon to me.

Also unedited. I currently have no beta, but a friend of mine agreed to look it over. I will upload the new version as soon as she gets to it.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Notes:**_

-Leans a little bit towards the movies

-Update: I had edited the chapter, but for some reason it didn't save. _At all._ So I apologize for the bunch of mistakes as I halfheartedly review the chapter for the umpteenth time.

* * *

"It was like…." Naruto paused mid statement, the words suddenly haulted in his throat. He stared down at his shaking hands and forced them into a fist. "Like I'll never be happy again." His words disappeared into whispers and silence as he neared the end of his sentence.

Hermione, the sympathetic person that she was, gave him an absolutely crestfallen look and quickly kneeled beside the boy. She took chocolate out of her pocket and handed him the entire bar. Even though the pain that the boy must've been feeling at that moment, he managed to give Hermione a big heart-warming smile; even if it was slightly fake. Contagious was it was, she couldn't help but smile back. Remus stood in front of the hotel room they've rented for the Konoha team. He had his back to the door and his arms crossed.

Hermione gave Sakura a piece of chocolate as well and the pink-haired girl was unconsciously nibbling on it now. Sasuke glared down at his own bar of dark chocolate that the passive aggressive girl forced onto him. Hermione returned to her side beside Remus just as Harry stepped into the room.

Harry expected the aura of the room to be dark and depressing, but certainly not this dark and depressing. The room was practically painted in shades of grey and blacks and the air might as well have been filled to the brim in thick smog. Almost as if they saw the sundown and it would never rise again.

"Is everyone here?" Remus asked softly, mindful of the mood of the room. His eyes shifted around, taking attendance. Kakashi stood off a little bit to his left, arms crossed and single eye boring into him. Team 7 sat around their table either eating or staring at their chocolate. Draco stood a little bit behind Remus' right side, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Harry stepped up to Remus' side and Hermione shifted slightly to make room for her best friend.

"Maa, that's great," Kakashi said, all smiles and sunshine, then it was like someone flipped a coin and Kakashi's personality did a complete 180. Kakashi's eye grew dangerously dark. Remus' breath hitched slightly as if he had a kunai held to his neck while he was under the man's gaze. Well, with the man's sharingan, instant death for the ex-werewolf might be possible. (But he'd have to fight Harry and Hermione first.)

'Killer intent?' Hari thought, standing her ground without even a sweat.

"Now, mind explaining?" The tone of his voice was like a bucket of ice cold water suddenly poured over them, but the Lightnin-Nins didn't even blink.

"What you just faced were dementors," Remus stated in a clear, official tone, like he was talking to a full jury. "They are possibly the worst, foulest creatures to have ever walked this earth. And that includes the Tailed Beasts. They will suck out every piece of hope, happiness and peace of everything they come across. If one gets too close...they will suck the soul out of them until they become just like the dementors. Soulless and empty...You will be left reliving your worst experiences for the rest of your life."

Harry sighed softly beside him. It was a very textbook answer, but the way they reacted, the way Remus said it, it was almost as if the ex-werewolf was huddling kids around for a scary story around a campfire. If she thought the tension was bad, now it was border lining horror-movie-climax bad.

"That's impossible," Sasuke of all people said. His voice was raspy and low, almost as if he was under a bad illness or hadn't talked in years. He threw his chocolate bar to the side and stared down at them with spinning red eyes, "If such things existed we would've found out!"

"What you all are feeling now is completely normal," Harry said, voice clear and firm. She swallowed, "My co - a friend of ours had a similar encounter with them as well." She hoped that they wouldn't catch on her little hiccup and continued. "He was a bully and tormented me for practically my entire childhood.

"We were messing around one day," she lied, "And we ended up in one of the canyons that we seal them in. He's fine, I saved him, but then he came to me afterwards and told me he saw him for what he really was. A bully, spoiled, pampered, etc. The first encounter is really hard, especially on people with bad backgrounds. I understand your feelings right now, but... we can do without you yelling at us."

"You haven't heard about them because we've been keeping them a secret," Hermione said softly, picking up the conversation, "An S-class secret," she dropped her tone towards the end of her statement, eyes darkening and narrowing. The brightest witch of their age then spun a tale of how they were experiments that went too out of control. The idea was believable enough, after all, Konoha was the former home to the Sannin, Orochimaru, and he had done some similar things.

"They don't listen to anyone or anything, except for promises of new, fresh souls. The dementors were recently released by Senso Takeo. He's a man who—" the words got caught in Hari's throat and she wasn't breathing. She looked up at Remus helplessly, with an almost hurt, pleading expression.

'He's the man who killed Remus in the past life,' was what she wanted to say if she were truthful. But she couldn't.

"He almost took Garou-sensei's life," she finished quietly, eyes dropping to stare at her boots. Sakura quietly gasped, and put a hand over her mouth.

The silence crept around the room for a little while longer, only broken by Kakashi giving a simple "Ah" and an "I see."

"We're telling you think now because we want to keep our peaceful ties with Konoha and its allies." Remus stepped up, stone-faced as he addressed the Konoha-nins. "You're obviously suspicious of us and we want to leave on good terms."

"Wait, leave?! You can't just leave!" Naruto demanded suddenly, slamming his hands on the table to lean over it, "We're helping you out, right?!"

"What?"

"Huh?" Harry blinked.

Naruto shot up from his seat and stormed over to them. Remus leaned back slightly from the close proximity.

"Naruto!" Sakura scolded.

"You expect us to just walk away after what happened?!" he roared, "I can't give up when those things are still around!" he faltered slightly, voice growing quieter and quieter by the second. He stared down at the floor again, taking in the fabric of his ninja sandals and the pattern of the tatami mats.

"I saw...I saw _that_. The pain...the loneliness…It's worse than dying..." his tone was consistent and dead. Flashes of a crying blond boy appeared in his head and he clenched his twitching hands so tightly the knuckles grew white. "I won't let anyone feel that pain ever again!" he looked up. Set blue eyes seemed to bore into all of them all at once.

Harry paused, mouth slightly agape as she sunk in his unwavering words that was filled with so much passion and determination.

'That was...unbelievably cheesy,' she thought, but for some reason her lips turned up slightly and a feeling of warm nostalgia filled her. She looked back at Naruto and he really wasn't kidding, 'I guess he's just naturally cheesy.'

"Tch," Malfoy softly muttered from his place in the corner, "None of this would've happened if you had just stayed out of our way in the first place!"

"Ryuuta!" Hermione scolded. He just scoffed and turned his head to the side like a sulking child. She sighed helplessly like a tired mother.

Remus stared at them, weighing out the pros and cons of the situation. What would happen if they brought them, the possible outcomes if they shot down Naruto's request.

But before he finished shifting the gears in his head, Harry jumped in on the conversation.

"Hekima did the math," Remus gasped beside Harry, but she continued, "We've calculated that Senso will make it to the border of the town in a week." Hari turned to Remus and they conversed silently. After a while, she narrowed her eyes in a stubborn way and frowned. Remus suddenly saw a young, twelve-year-old boy named James in her place and wavered for a couple of seconds, then sighed in compliance, pinching his nose bridge.

Hermione nodded, "If he made it all the way here from our village, there's really only one path he can take. And if we take into account his pace, all of the problems he might run into…," she nodded to herself, "He'll definitely be here in a week, I'm sure of it," Hermione said with a determined "game face."

"Well then," Kakashi gave them an eye-smile, "I guess we have time to train."

Ϟ

"He's not much of a fighter, but he has some nasty tricks up his sleeve," Hermione explained to the Konoha Team as they all walked into the nearby forest to find a clearing.

"Like what?" Sakura asked slowly, almost as if she didn't want to hear the answer. Hermione thought for a while, trying to see if it really was a good idea to tell them. She decided that yes, the more information they were given, the higher their chances of survival would be. War-hardened Hermione Granger wasn't any different from First Year Hermione Granger in terms of heart.

In terms of badassary? Hell yea.

Hermione decided that she spoke for all when she said that there wasn't any need for heavy thinking when it came to balancing their ninja career and the survival of the people. The other villages can do and say whatever they wanted to, but in their own village and in their own little bubble, they were born and raised valuing lives more than mere village secrets.

'They were not tools of war,' Hermione thought one day, 'But defenders of the defenseless.' The lives of Team 7 were to be protected at all cost. Besides, describing apparition was a mere drop in the ocean, so they could spare one small secret for three or four lives.

They weren't just training to keep up the image of a normal team and his sensei, fighting for their lives as a C-rank all of a sudden turns into an A-rank, but to train Team Kakashi. Hari and her friends could easily deal with Antonin, what they were worried about was the Unforgivable Curses. They were still heavily banned like in the past life. Although, the three spells were only to be excused when the witch or wizard were in a pinch; they were ninjas now, and the Killing Curse seemed like Snow White's rest compared to what they had to see in their career.

If Antonin Dolov let the dementors escape like this, then he must be more than willing to use the curses as well.

"You saw Hari using that transporting technique, right?" Hermione continued.

"Transporting?" Kakashi thought, thinking of his Sensei's Flying Thunder God Technique. A couple of preteen kids mastered space and time before his sensei?

Sakura and Naruto nodded, thinking about the time the girl literally flash-stepped about fifty meters in half a second.

Hermione nodded in certainty, and then got into her "Lecture mode."

"Senso can do it as well. A lot of people in our village can."

"You can do it too?!" Naruto gasped, getting up in Hermione's face. Surprised and dazed, the girl slowly nodded. Naruto stumbled back when Sasuke grabbed his collar and yanked.

"Though there are two types," Hermione continued slowly, recovering from her personal space bubble being abused. "You've seen the first type—The one that Hari used—It's loud and has no sense of sneakiness, but it gets you where you want to go in less than a second. Hari, Garou-sensei and I use this type. The second type is pretty much the same idea, but instead of a loud sound, this one uses sight. Smoke."

"Smoke?" Sakura asked. Team 7 were all looking extremely interested.

Garou-sensei nodded, "Ryuuta, if you please." He turned and gestured his arms to him.

The young man who was lagging behind the group scowled, but looked Remus dead in the eye and complied anyway.

"Where?" he asked with restraint, almost as if to hold back his sassy comments.

Remus didn't flinch, but smiled in that annoying way that Kakashi did.

He pointed to a tree about a meter or two behind the Konoha team.

"That seems like a good spot," the man said. Draco nodded and focused on the tree for a second with a burning gaze. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. After all, he hasn't done this in a while, with muggles flooding the villages and not really having a reason to. Having rusty skills on apparition would be extremely dangerous as well. He flashed opened his steely, grey eyes before his body was enveloped and was swallowed in black smoke. Sakura gasped and Team 7 of Konoha quickly jumped apart as the jet of black smoke quickly moved across the forest. It spun and twisted like black paint in water.

Before Malfoy passed the Lightning team, Remus held his hand out, and demonstrated how it really was like catching smoke with your hands. Black smoke easily shifted around his fingers and moved back again the moment they left his hands.

Not even a second later, Malfoy was leaning against the tree he was aiming for, leaning against it as the smoke pooled to his feet and dispersed naturally. He crossed his arms and looked off to the side.

"Interesting…" Kakashi muttered.

"It's a lot slower and it's visible, but it doesn't make a sound, so it's good for watch missions. Ryuuta and our target have this ability."

"A whole village with an ability like that…" Sakura whispered fearfully. Naruto gaped in awe in stars in his eyes and said something about how "He's a jerk, but he's kinda cool." Sasuke just glared at the blond that was leaning against the tree with his head up to the sky, thinking about other things.

"If that's the case," Kakashi asked, "Can't our target get here any time that he wants?"

Hermione shook her head, but it was Lupin who took over this time.

"You see, while Ryuuta-kun is in that state of smoke, he has no sense of direction, nor sense of smell, sight, or hearing. You have to have a clear image of where you want to go into your head. We can't simply say 'I want to go in this general direction' and then change mid-travel. Since our target has never been here before, he would have to get here by foot."

"Hari," Hermione suddenly called out, "Where are you?" Looking behind her revealed empty space, and her best friend was nowhere to be seen. Hari must've wandered off yet again. Hermione liked to say "yet again" because if you haven't noticed, Hari's mischief tended to get her into a lot of trouble. It eased Hermione's heart when she pretended to think that Hari didn't wander into snake pits on purpose. The rest of the crew stopped as well to look at a cluster of tall trees as Hari let out a bit of chakra to be noticed.

After a couple of seconds, Harry emerged from between several trees, strolling by as her eyes took in the forest. Emerald green shone like a headlight among every leaf and every bush surrounding her.

"I'm sorry," she finally said as she caught up with them. "It's just that I've never seen so many trees…"

'In a while,' she added in her mind. In all honesty, the Forbidden Forest held a lot of memories for her (mostly bad) but she kind of missed them (not the almost dying part). Nostalgia hurt her chest like a dull punch.

"Ah, really?" Hermione asked, falling into step with her best friend, "Konoha has plenty."

Hari laughed nervously, "I couldn't even guide myself through the market street without getting lost! I'd probably lose my way a foot into their forests."

"You won't have a lot of trees where you come from, Hari-san, Hekima-san?" Sakura hesitantly asked, turning around slightly to face the two.

"We have trees, but they're not as tall as the Konoha trees, and they're not really forests, they're scattered."

"The architecture is really strange in Konoha too," Hermione mused, hand on chin in thought. The rooms were a lot smaller, but the wooden skyscrapers were a really big surprise to them. Back in their village, the highest they went was about six stories, but that was only a three story building with an expansion charm. While in Konoha, six plus stories seemed to be the norm. It reminded them of the Burrow, built haphazardly on top of one another.

"I think that's because Konoha had a set plot of land when it was built, so they don't have much space. They build vertically while we build horizontally," Remus added, thinking.

"Oh, I see," Hari answered.

"Ne, ne," Naruto said, turning around and walking backwards to talk to them, a bright big smile on his face, "What's your home like?"

Harry and Hermione shared a look and laughed happily, the inside joke of "home" was long running, "Well, it's like…"

Ϟ

They had finally found a good training spot fifteen minutes later. It was a pretty big clearing with a lake against a cliff and plenty of fierce sunlight and soft green grass. During this time of day, the shadows of the cliff shaded the lake, but Hari bet that the moment the sun shined on the clear blue water, it would sparkle like the bright, blue sky. Currently, it was the color of uncut sapphire.

After their talk, it felt like the tension from the dementors had melted away slightly, and they were more comfortable with each other. After several minutes in their conversation, Naruto just had this way of worming into the heart with his loud, boisterous voice and contagious smiles. "Like an annoying rash that you can't get rid of," Draco would have said. Hermione was really relieved, from what she read about Naruto's personality, he shined and had more energy than the sun, so she was really worried when he wasn't talking for the first half of their walk.

"Now...Who's first?" Kakashi asked with an eye-smile. The two teachers stood up in front of their students, expecting a volunteer.

The girls just eyed either other awkwardly, shifting stances now and then. Naruto obviously wanted to train, by the way he was waving his arms around as if his teacher was blind, and shouting "Me! Me!" as if Kakashi was deaf.

Sasuke wanted to train as well, but was a lot more reserved about it. Sasuke Uchiha wasn't the type to beg for something. He stood there and crossed his arms, glaring at nothing and everything.

"Um, if it helps, Hekima was Top Girl, and Ryuuta was Top Boy-" Remus started off, hoping that it might help with the situation.

"Oh!" Naruto cooed. He ran up to Harry's face and got really close to her eyes, "If you have Top Boy and Top Girl in your team, that means you're Dead Last right?!"

"Uhh…" shivers ran down Harry's spine as she inched away from his close proximity. Naruto stared her down like a fox and a rabbit.

"Then we have to fight!" he declared, taking her arm and dragging her into the middle of their makeshift training area. Hari followed without complaint, but looked pleadingly at Hermione.

"Tch.." Malfoy complained, "How idiotic can he get? He's such a typical Gryffindor."

"What was that, Ferret?" Hermione growled dangerously beside him, so quiet that the others couldn't hear.

"Are you deaf too? You heard me, Gryffindors, numskulls, idiot. You always jump into the fight without even thinking," Draco stated with confidence, staring Hermione down. Blue-grey eyes clashed with brown before Naruto broke in.

"Oi!" he yelled, pointing at Draco. Sure he didn't know what "Gurifindōru" meant, but the way the Asshole said it didn't sound nice. Malfoy daintily raised his eyebrow in a way that said 'I'm too good for you, what the hell are you saying?' He scoffed, slapping Naruto's hand away from his face and crossing his arms.

"I'm not an idiot, dattebayo!" Naruto yelled, voice getting louder and louder. Lupin was in the background, waving his arms, trying to stop yet another Draco vs Naruto fight from breaking out. Kakashi stood in the way back, seemingly without a care in the world as he read his little orange book. Would he even care if his students were thrown to the wolves? Well...Harry looked at Lupin. That statement was half correct.

"I do think when I'm fighting, because I'm going to become Hokage, dattebayo!"

Malfoy guffawed, "You? Next Hokage?! It's a good thing I'm not a resident of Konoha. I'd have a better chance of surviving if I were surrounded by missing-nin."

Harry sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. This wouldn't end well. Like she said earlier, Draco was naturally cynical, rude and sarcastic, but Draco was pushing it. Why was he like this? Okay, that wasn't the right question, but after the war they had ended on peaceful terms. If she remembered correctly, they even had lunch together once in Diagon Alley. It couldn't be the stress of the exams; they all had it in the bag. Maybe it was the dementors? Or the return of Antonin? Either way, the way he was acting would only chalk up to some bad confrontations with him and everyone else.

She had to diffuse the situation. From the looks of it, even Sakura and Sasuke were getting irritated by his attitude. How the hell was she going to stop a fight?

Her head must've been nowhere useful that day, because she automatically thought:

'With another fight.'

"I can fight all of you, if you want," she spoke up; softly let her magic carried it around. Every head snapped towards her. Team 7 looked at her as if she was mental. Hermione and Draco looked at her as if she were mental.

Remus looked like a cross of proud and confused and afraid.

Kakashi appeared amused, but she couldn't really read him well when about 95% of his body was covered.

"I'll take on all of Team 7," she continued, confidence lacing her voice.

Ϟ

Harri stood in the middle of the clearing with Team 7 surrounding her in the triangle formation.

Sasuke clicked his tongue, "This is stupid." A small fight between him and the short girl wouldn't get him anywhere with his training. She was from Lightning, yes, but her figure was small and slight. She was even shorter than Naruto, who was already the shortest one in the team.

"Scared, Uchiha?" Draco drawled from across the field, where he and Hekima moved so they wouldn't get in the way.

Hari almost smirked and slyly said back:

 _'You wish.'_ She bit her lip to keep her excitement down. Even so, the upper corners of her lip were up and Sakura looked at her as if Hari was possessed by the demon or something. Being in Konoha was really restricting, so she never had a proper chance to stretch out her muscles.

Sasuke continued to map out all possibilities in his head, she may have some tricks yes, but patterns of transportation could only help her so much, and this was supposed to be a taijutsu and weapon only battle. From what he had seen in his daze of depression earlier, she was easily thrown and he didn't see her fight back against those _dementors_ —his mind could barely comprehend how to say it. Her small frame might help with speed and agility, but that was probably all she had going for her.

Sasuke was confident that he was going to win.

He'd be able to finish this in less than five minutes without the help of his teammates.

Ϟ

"It's not going to last very long," Draco sneered, crossing his arms. Hermione had to agree this time, but only because it was about Hari. She nodded her head. If she calculated correctly, the fight would last at least one minute per person. And Hermione was usually never wrong in her calculations.

After all, Hari was their taijutsu expert.

Right after the Battle of Hogwarts, Kingsley made the agreement to let the fighters of the war become an Auror, and Hari, Ron and Neville took up the offer right away, but in a typical Hari manner, she was the master of defense.

As expected, Hari had become the Head of the Aurors, and so that left her with the job of (filling out mountains of paperwork) but teaching new recruits how to fight as well. Magic couldn't be depended on most of the time, considering the fact that not only did they hunt dark wizards, but sometimes magical beasts and monsters got out of hand as well; most of whom does magic not work very well on.

Therefore, Harry was taught multiple fighting styles that even the muggles used as defense. She then became skilled enough to teach others and advise them like a true teacher.

Hari brought this skill into the New World, and took most of her fourth year of living to teach her old classmates how to fight, as well as strengthen her new body to be able to use her taijutsu to the very fullest.

So rookies like them against a pro like her? There was no mistaking what the outcome would be for this fight.

Lupin took an inhale of breath with his arms folded behind his back.

His eyes scanned each kid at the speed of a predator planning out his prey. Hari smiled easily and slipped into a relaxed stance, one that they've never seen before. Sasuke glared, moving into the perfect Uchiha fighting stance. Naruto's eyes grew sharp, but his smile was wide and predatory. Sakura was the least confident of the two, and hesitantly shifted into the Academy style.

"Start!"

Ϟ

Naruto charged first with the intent and determination of an angry bull.

'This would be good for us,' Remus nervously thought, even as Hari effortlessly moved aside to dodge, 'In order to get to know and understand the Konoha team, sometimes it is necessary to battle.'

"Behind you!" Hermione yelled.

Hari's eyes widened the slightest as she quickly moved out of the way, narrowly missing Sasuke's shot.

This went on for a while, Hari moved and dodged while Team 7 blindly attacked and struck. They aren't working together, per say, their rhythms are off with one another, but even so, they leave little openings; but Hari still managed to move and flow past them like a roaring wave without getting a single scratch or bruise on her. She resembled an intricate dance while they were little kids learning how to walk for the first time.

"Maa, Hari-chan," Kakashi suddenly called. She turned towards him, she doesn't even need to look at the Genin, their chakras were pulsating with anger and frustration like a broken stoplight. Kakashi's headband was pushed out of the way, revealing his other eye; his eyes still convey boredom, but she was confused by the appearance of a red eye.

"You don't need to be so easy on them. Step it up a little."

Whatever little chance of winning Team 7 had was suddenly pushed off the figurative table.

She nodded and raced towards Naruto.

He let out a choked scream. His mind understood that she was charging towards him, but his reflexes didn't even touch his muscles. She grabbed his collar, twisted her body and went on one knee facing away from him. Her outstretched calf easily trips the boy when she hurled him over her body and swung his body into the lake. When he dragged himself out like a drowned, harassed rat, she didn't spare him a second glance as she threw a bundle of weapons at him, pinning him down to the shore by his jacket sleeves.

She wandlessly laced the weapons with Temporary Sticking Charms to assure the fact that he didn't come jumping back after his defeat.

It was like the damned bell test all over again! he thought as he tried to get the weapons to nudge, but failed at doing so.

"She's working on her other fighting styles," Remus commented to Hermione, leaning down slightly so he could speak closer to her ear. The bushy-haired girl nodded.

"She said she was lacking in them," Hermione scanned the fight with intelligent brown eyes like the analysis person she was. She took in every step Hari takes.

"Tch," Draco added, "What a liar. It's always Perfect Potter with her, huh?" He crossed his arms with a distasteful expression on his face.

The next was Sasuke, she maps out in her mind. She sensed that Sakura had taken refuge in the trees somewhere.

He started off with a high kick aimed for her face. She easily gripped his bandage-clad ankle and he makes the mistake of moving his fist towards her.

"It's over," Draco commented. He huffed at the horrible build-up, but smirked anyway.

Hari let go of his leg, and used her free hand to grip Sasuke near the armpit with such speed that his brain barely comprehended the fact that she grabbed his fist. Her arms are on one arm at opposite ends, but then she moves them closer to the elbow and flips him over on his back. She slammed him into onto the grass floor, and the wind is knocked out him. She took a kunai and pins him to the floor by his overgrown collar. She planted a Temporary Sticking Charm into this kunai as well.

She easily took care of Sakura when the pink-haired girl charged at her. Hari simply took out another kunai and wordlessly held it to the girl's throat at the right moment, halting the Haruno in her steps with a fearful expression.

Hari stared into her duller green eyes for a while, not speaking a word and had little to no expression. She conveyed her victory in these five seconds of silence.

She pulled back her kunai and tossed it into her pouch. She simply shrugged and a smile broke out.

"I win."

Ϟ

Hari stretched languidly like an overgrown cat to sooth her aching muscles. Her bottom is planted on the soft grass as she pulled her arms overhead and pulled on her hamstrings. The moon was bright and full overhead, bathing her in a cool, otherworldly glow.

She guessed that one of the pros of this twisted world was that this day, on the full moon, even Remus was sleeping peacefully. Sure, every now and then he gets some weird habits like shedding and sometimes all the meat was running really low in the village, but it's a small price to pay for his health.

Hari remembered when she saw him again, pale and transparent along her parents and Sirius, but he was younger and healthy looking. Almost as if the lycanthropy curse had never even existed. She's proud and happy that it's true for this place too.

Even though Remus wasn't awake at this time, she certainly was; almost every day in fact. It was a hard habit to break, and almost everyone nagged her for continuing to do so when almost all of her friends stopped overnight training years ago. She was a growing girl and needed her sleep, they all said.

She was already at the top of the physical fitness pyramid, but she continued to push herself.

She had already allowed herself several minutes of rest and relaxation, so her muscles stopped cramping and her breathing was much more even.

She relaxed even further by slumping her shoulders as she leaned against a tall, thick tree. She looked peaceful and was almost taken into the arms of sleep when her senses tingled.

She felt warmth, no, a burn. A suffocating smog and as it got closer, a hair-raising lighting effect.

"Sasuke," she called out, but doesn't move. She mentally cursed herself for not feeling it sooner. Was she really that into training that she didn't notice?

"Sasuke," she called out again, louder this time with force in her tone. Illuminated green eyes snapped open and she went up on her feet. It wasn't a request, she demanded his presence. She knew he was here. She inhaled and closed her eyes as the chakra turns deeper, thicker, almost as if it slowed like molasses.

Soft ruffling and whispers of grass whispered in her ears and when she opened her eyes again he was standing in front of her.

They stared at each other, neither taking an eye off the other.

"Do you make it a habit to stalk young girls? I know you're a lonely guy an all, but I bet Sakura-san would appreciate it more," she stated, her sass levels rising almost as if she was in the presence of Snape. His brooding nature definitely reminded her of him. But this was just simple teasing.

He didn't say anything, but his glare turned deeper and darker, almost as if he was trying to kill her with his eyes for even teasing him about the possibility of him being a pervert.

She frowned. How was it that the Konoha Team clashed like a tub of Blast-Ended Skrewts?

If Naruto was as pure as the first morning rays of the sun, Sasuke was a slow, seething, simmering burn on top of a tar fire.

After a while, he finally spoke.

"Train with me," he demanded.

"Excuse me?" she said with a tone of being slightly insulted. Her eyebrow was raised, and she tilted her head.

"With our powers, I'll be able to reach my ambition quicker," he said, like it was going to convince her. He stepped closer, and she stepped back.

"I don't know what your ambition is, how am I supposed to help you?"

His eyes glimmer with something, "Have you ever heard of the Uchiha clan?"

"Only in name, nothing more than that," she admitted honestly. Grades were never her strong suit.

"They were a proud and powerful clan," he started, and she began to get the gist of it, but he continued anyway, almost as if he had to get the story by. "One day they were brutally murdered in cold blood by a single man. My goal—no, my ambition, is to kill that man!" he growled at her, burning with rage at the single thought of his brother.

She understood. He wanted her to train him. He had realized that she was far above his power level and skills, but he was too prideful to simply say "Train me" and instead said "Train with me."

Did he want to make it clear that he was more superior or something? Beside herself, she became slightly annoyed at the thought, but managed to calm herself down. She didn't want to admit it, but being raised by the _Slytherin of all Slytherins_ really put her pride on a higher pedestal.

She looked up at the taller male, ready to completely reject his demand, but then she looked into his shadowed eyes and the words had halted in her throat.

She saw his clenched fists, and she bet that his nails were digging so far into his palm that they were drawing blood. His body was shaking slightly, and his eyes were shadowed by his bangs, his head was down, almost pleading her and begging her. Under the moonlight he looked like a little boy again.

A little boy who came home from school after a hard day of training, eager to race home to eat dinner with his mother, play with his brother and impress his father.

She stepped back uncertainly, her wall wavering. She grimaced, if he was so determined, why didn't he ask his actual sensei? Wasn't the man like _the_ Copy Ninja Kakashi: the man who copied over a thousand jutsus?

'Isn't it simple, Stupid?' she thought, 'For the same reason Dumbledore didn't give you any proper training. He didn't want you to race off killing yourself.' Kakashi didn't want to encourage Sasuke's road to revenge. He knew that they weren't ready. No, her mind wandered, he wanted to hold her down in Hogwarts just so she could risk her life for the "greater good!"

That thought caused her to wander into darker thoughts.

She wanted revenge…

Voldemort killed her family. Voldemort caused her and her closest friends to be landed in the hospital wing every year.

She deserved that training! She should've taken matters into her own hands instead of allowing Professor Dumbledore to talk about Tom's terrible backstory over tea and lemon drops!

It's true that the knowledge of Tom's backstory helped her become closer to her brother, and she truly was grateful for it now, but what good was it then? Was she going to guilt trip Tom on the battlefield? Make him feel guilt or something at that point in time? Horcruxes could've been explained in half the time it took to discuss Tom. How hard was it to say:

 _"Harry, you're a horcrux. You were born to die."_

No, she needed real training. She needed Mad-Eye to teach her what she knew now and yell "Constant Vigilance!" at her.

She swallowed thickly. She didn't want to promote to this impressionable kid that revenge was everything. She should speak of peace and living a full life…

Then she thought, the best revenge was silence. The rest revenge was done by only the strongest people.

She looked up at him, who was silent till now, wordlessly staring at her with onyx eyes expectantly until he had an answer.

"You have first watch right?" she asked urgently. He nodded, whatever answer that he was expecting or words that might've fallen out of her mouth, that wasn't it.

"I do too," she lied. That's not true at all; they didn't have watch when wizards have wards.

She pointed to the very patch of grass they were standing on; it was a large, vast backyard of the inn they were staying at. The forest was directly to her left while the inn was directly to her right.

"Come here every night for the rest of the week after you're done with your bath and eating dinner. Also, don't tell your teammates."


End file.
